Many words in the English language are of French origin ("gallicism"s). Most of them came from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. English words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, money, and table are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and English speakers commonly use them without any awareness of their French origin.
This article covers French words and phrases that have entered the English lexicon without ever losing their character as Gallicisms: they remain unmistakably "French" to an English speaker. They are most common in written English, where they retain French diacritics and are usually printed in italics. In spoken English, at least some attempt is generally made to pronounce them as they would sound in French. An entirely English pronunciation is regarded as a solecism.
Some of the entries were never "good French", in the sense of being grammatical, idiomatic French usage. Others were once normal French but have either become very old-fashioned or have acquired different meanings and connotations in the original language, to the extent that a native French speaker would not understand them, either at all or in the intended sense.
Used in English and French
A à fond lit. "to the bottom"; thoroughly, completely, with maximum effort or intensity. Often used to describe giving one's all in a particular endeavor, as in "going à fond" in sports or other activities, or as in discussion "we discussed the subject à fond". à la short for (ellipsis of) à la manière de; in the manner of/in the style of"I like my nature programmes à la Attenborough, where Nature is the subject matter and the presenter remains unobtrusive," Christina Odone, "Moving experiences should be private", The Daily Telegraph, September 12, 1996. à la carte lit. "on the card, i.e. menu". In restaurants it refers to ordering individual dishes from the menu rather than a fixed-price meal. In America "à la carte menu" can be found, an oxymoron and a pleonasm. à propos regarding/concerning (the correct French is à propos de) affaire de cœur lit. a love affair aide-de-camp lit. "camp helper"; "camp assistant", a military officer who serves as an adjutant to a higher-ranking officer, prince or other political dignitary. In Canada, it may also refer to the honorary position a person holds as a personal assistant to a high civil servant. In French, it is written aide de camp (without any hyphens). aide-mémoire lit. "memory aid"; an object or memorandum to help one to remember things, or a diplomatic paper proposing the major points of discussion. amour propre "Self-love", self-respect. amuse-bouche or amuse-gueule lit. "mouth-amuser"; a single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre. In France, the exact expression used is amuse-gueule, gueule being slang for mouth (gueule is the mouth of a carnivorous animal; when used to describe a human mouth, it is vulgarakin to "gob" although the expression itself is not vulgar). The expression refers to a small mouthful of food, served at the discretion of the chef before a meal as an hors d'oeuvre or between main courses. ancien régime a sociopolitical or other system that no longer exists, an allusion to pre-revolutionary France (used with capital letters in French with this meaning: Ancien Régime) aperçu preview; a first impression; initial insight.
apéritif or aperitif lit. [drink] that "opens" the appetite, a pre-meal drink.See the definition given in CNRTL's Trésor de la langue française: "Subst. masc. Boisson généralement alcoolisée, réputée stimulante pour l'appétit", CNRTL. In colloquial French, un apéritif is usually shortened to un apéro. appellation contrôlée supervised use of a name. For the conventional use of the term, see Appellation d'origine contrôlée. appetence 1. A natural craving or desire 2. An attraction or affinity; from the French "appétence", derived from "appétit" (appetite). In French, this has a high register language. après moi, le déluge lit. "After me, the flood", a remark attributed to Louis XV of France, referring to the impending end of a functioning French monarchy and predicting the French Revolution. It is derived from Madame de Pompadour's après nous, le déluge, "after us, the flood". The Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, famously known as the "Dambusters", uses this as its motto.
arête a narrow ridge. In French, also fishbone; edge of a polyhedron or graph; bridge of the nose. armoire a type of cabinet; wardrobe. arrière-pensée ulterior motive; concealed thought, plan, or motive. Art Nouveau a style of decoration and architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It takes capitals in French (Art Nouveau). attaché a person attached to an embassy; in French it is also the past participle of the verb attacher (= to fasten, to tighten, to be linked) attaque au fer an attack on the opponent's blade in fencing, e.g. beat, expulsion, pressure. au contraire on the contrary. au courant up-to-date; abreast of current affairs. au fait being familiar with or know about something. au gratin "with gratings", anything that is grated onto a food dish. In English, specifically 'with cheese'. au jus lit. "with juice", referring to a food course served with sauce. Often redundantly formulated, as in 'Open-faced steak sandwich, served with au jus.' No longer used in French, except for the colloquial, être au jus (to be informed). au naturel 1. a. Nude. b. In a natural state: an au naturel hairstyle. 2. Cooked simply. Also used in French heraldry to mean "proper" i.e. in natural colours. au pair a young foreigner who does domestic chores in exchange for room and board. In France, those chores are mainly child care/education. Lit. "on par", in the sense of "equal to" (see parity), indicating that the person is considered an equal member of the household rather than a servant. au revoir! "See you later!" In French, a contraction of Au plaisir de vous revoir ('to the pleasure of seeing you again'). au sec lit. "almost dry", reducing liquid to the point of almost being dry though the food is still moist. avant-garde (pl. avant-gardes) applied to cutting-edge or radically innovative movements in art, music and literature; figuratively 'on the edge', literally, a military term, meaning 'vanguard' (which is a corruption of avant-garde) or "advance guard", in other words, "first to attack" (antonym of arrière-garde). avant la lettre used to describe something or someone seen as a forerunner of something (such as an artistic or political movement) before that thing was recognized and named, e.g., "a post-modernist avant la lettre", "a feminist avant la lettre". The expression literally means "before the letter", i.e., "before it had a name". An alternative modern French version of this expression is avant l'heure. avoirdupois used in Middle English, avoir de pois = commodities sold by weight, alteration of Old French aveir de peis = "goods of weight". In Modern French, only used to refer to English weight measures, as in une livre avoirdupois (1 lb. avdp) as opposed to une livre troy (1 lb. troy).
B baguette a long, narrow loaf of white bread with a crisp crust, often called "French bread" or "French stick" in the United Kingdom. In French, a baguette is any long and narrow stick-like object such as a chopstick; a rectangular diamond cut to 25 facets and a magic wand. banquette a long upholstered bench or a sofa. beaucoup de Used interchangeably with the English equivalent of "lots of/many/a great number of". Appropriate when the speaker wants to convey a greater positive connotation and/or greater emphasis. Often used as an informal expression, mostly in small regional dialect-pockets in the Canadian Prairies and the American South, especially in Alberta and Louisiana respectively. Beau geste lit. "beautiful gesture", a gracious gesture, noble in form but often futile or meaningless in substance. This French expression has been on the periphery of the standard English lexicon since the appearance of P. C. Wren's Beau Geste (1924), the first of his Foreign Legion novels.The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, third edition, edited by R. W. Burchfield, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996, p. 98–99. Beau idéal lit. "beautiful ideal," used to suggest the perfect or most supreme version of something to exist. The expression was coined during the late 18th century during the aesthetic period known as classicism. Invoking the balance and refinement of Greek and Roman art and architecture, the term was used for examples of such that conformed to purity, wholesomeness, equilibrium, and simple elegance. Beaux-Arts monumental architectural style of the early 20th century made famous by the Académie des Beaux-Arts. bel esprit (pl. beaux esprits) lit. "fine mind"; a cultivated, highly intelligent person. Belle Époque a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. belles-lettres lit. "fine letters"; literature regarded for its aesthetic value rather than its didactic or informative content; also, light, stylish writings, usually on literary or intellectual subjects. bête noire lit "black beast"; nemesis. bien entendu well understood, well known, obvious – "of course". bien pensant lit. "well thinking"; right thinking, orthodox. Formerly implied wilful blindness to dangers or suffering faced by others but, nowadays corresponds to "politically correct". The noun form bien-pensance is rarely seen in English. billet-doux lit. "sweet note", love letter"Except for the strong possibility that – like former Bishop Roddy Wright of Argyll and the Isles – I would, in fact, be breaking off to pen a billet-doux to a divorcée of the parish, or a furtive birthday card to my secret teenage son," Mark Lawson, "The boy who would be Pope", The Guardian Weekly, September 21, 1996. blasé unimpressed with something because of overfamiliarity, jaded. bon appétit lit. "good appetite"; "enjoy your meal". bon mot (pl. bons mots) well-chosen word(s), particularly a witty remark ("each bon mot which falls from his lips is analysed and filed away for posterity", The European Magazine, August 29 – September 4, 1996) bon vivant one who enjoys the good life, an epicurean. bon voyage lit. "good journey"; have a good trip! boudoir lit. "sulking place"; a woman's private dressing or sitting room in a house. bourgeois member of the bourgeoisie, originally councilmen, burghers or even aristocrats living in towns in the Middle Ages. Now the term is derogatory, and it applies to a person whose beliefs, attitudes, and practices are conventionally middle-class.
bric-à-brac small ornamental objects, less valuable than antiques; a collection of old furniture, china, plates and curiosities. Cf. de bric et de broc, corresponding to English "by hook or by crook", and brack, refuse. bricolage to improvise or assemble something useful from what happens to be at hand; to expedite or economize a project with readily available components, versus a kit or outside sources; to reuse spare parts for other than their original purpose; to create something new by arranging old material; to create a new, valuable purpose for an object that has completed its original purpose and would otherwise be discarded. Connotes an intrepid do-it-yourself spirit or clever repurposing. Differs from tinkering which merely modifies an existing arrangement. The term is used metaphorically to describe inventive philosophy, theories, and practices in business and academic fields, where new concepts are found in interactions of old ideas.
brioche a sweet yeast bun, kind of a crossover between a popover and a light muffin; French also use the term as slang for 'pot belly', because of the overhang effect.