scotch

From 3M's Scotch tape. Genericized trademark.


Paki

(ethnic slur) Paki (offensive term for a Pakistani)


citron

From Latin citrus (“citron tree, thuja”), probably connected with Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros, “cedar, juniper”).

cog

(slang, offensive, ethnic slur) East Asian


klaxon

Borrowed from English klaxon. Genericized trademark.


bic

→ Chadian Arabic: بيك (bīk)

→ Khmer: ប៊ិក (bĭk)

→ Lao: ບິກ (bik)

From BIC, a popular French brand of ballpoint pen, which is from the name of the co-founder of the company manufacturing these pens, Marcel Bich.

ballpoint pen, Biro (Britain, Australia, New Zealand)


tarmac

Borrowed from English, a clipping of tarmacadam. Genericized trademark.


merde

→ English: merde

Inherited from Middle French merde, from Old French merde, from Latin merda.

Aïe, cette télé de merde !


macaroni

Borrowed from Italian maccaroni, obsolete variant of maccheroni (“macaroni”), plural of maccherone, of uncertain origin.

(ethnic slur) wop; a person of Italian descent


escalator

Borrowed from English. Genericized trademark.


rosbif

→ Catalan: rosbif

→ English: rosbif

→ Russian: ро́стбиф (róstbif)

→ Turkish: rozbif

Borrowed from English roast beef, stereotypical food of the English.
Compare English frog (“French person”), from frog legs, corresponding term for French, likewise based on food; and Kraut for Germans.

(derogatory, ethnic slur) an English person


bougnoule

fr-noun

bougnoule m or f by sense (plural bougnoules)

Borrowed from Wolof ñuul (“black, to be black”), wu ñuula (“a person who is black”), fas wu ñuul (“black horse”), 1890. The original phrase is sometimes offensive in the Wolof language.

bor+

Jeune, j’ai le souvenir d’une madame Nicole / Instit’ qui pensait qu’un bougnoule n’était pas fait pour l’école

2005, “Thé à la menthe”, performed by La Caution

I remember when I was young there was a Madame Nicole / A primary school teacher who thought that a wog was not cut out for school

À Amiens y a que des Noirs et des bougnoules, des crouilles t’y vas tu crois que t’en Afrique. Faut pas aller là-bas, c’est sûr que tu te fais dépouiller.

2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule [The End of Eddy], Le Seuil

In Amiens there's nothing but blacks, wogs and Maghrebis; you go and you think you're in Africa. You mustn't go there; you'll definitely get robbed.

(ethnic slur) wog; raghead (person of North African descent)


Tempo

Genericization of the trademark Tempo. From the name of a popular manufacturer of such structures. Clipping of temporaire.

(Quebec, automotive) Tempo: A type of temporary car shelter


kevlar

Borrowed from English Kevlar; a trademark Kevlar.


giaour

Borrowed from Venetian giaur, from Ottoman Turkish كاور (gâvur). Doublet of gwer.


raton

fr-noun

raton m (plural ratons, feminine ratonne)

The same as etymology 1, influenced by Spanish ratón.

Quel bavardage : liberté, égalité, fraternité, amour, honneur, patrie, que sais-je ? Cela ne nous empêchait pas de tenir en même temps des discours racistes, sale nègre, sale juif, sale raton.

1961, Jean-Paul Sartre, Préface des Les Damnés de la Terre (Frantz Fanon)

What gibberish: liberty, fairness, brotherhood, amity, honor, fatherland, what do I know? This doesn't stop us from holding at the same time racist discourses, foul black, foul jew, vile person of Arab or Algerian descent.

(derogatory, ethnic slur, vulgar) someone of Arab or Algerian descent


jacuzzi

Borrowed from English jacuzzi. Genericized trademark.


frigidaire

Proprietary name, apparently originally based on Latin frigidarium.


jeep

Borrowed from English jeep. Genericized trademark.


Skidoo

Genericization of trademark. From English; from the trademark Ski-Doo.


goddam

Borrowed from English goddamn, in reference to the English propensity for swearing. Originally used in the Hundred Years War.

Ah! ah! dit-il en riant, il serait digne d’un goddam, si les goddams savaient tirer si droit.

1932, Thierry Sandre, Le corsaire Pellot qui courut pour le roi, page 81

Ah! ah! he laughed, he would be worthy of an Englishman, if the Englishmen knew how to shoot so straight.

(chiefly in the plural, ethnic slur) an English person


cubi

Genericized trademark, clipping of cubiteneur or cubitainer, from English cubitainer.


adrénaline

Borrowed from English adrenaline. Genericized trademark.

(biochemistry) adrenaline (epinephrine, the hormone and neurotransmitter)


pingouin

→ Danish: pingvin

→ Italian: pinguino

→ Persian: پنگوئن

→ Portuguese: pinguim

→ Romanian: pinguin

→ Spanish: pingüino

→ Swedish: pingvin

→ Turkish: penguen

(colloquial, derogatory, ethnic slur) Spaniard


fak

(Quebec, informal) Eye dialect spelling of fait que.


dictaphone

From dicter + -phone. Genericized trademark.


pierrade

From pierre + -ade. Genericized trademark.

a dish (a form of barbecue) in which thin slices of meat are cooked on a heated stone and served with sauces, salads, potatoes, etc.


karcher

Genericized trademark, from the name of the German company Kärcher.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:karcher.


p'tit

fr-adj

p’tit (feminine p’tite, masculine plural p’tits, feminine plural p’tites)

p’tit (canonical)
p’tite (feminine)
p’tits (masculine plural)
p’tites (feminine plural)

(colloquial, slang) Eye dialect spelling of petit.


abribus

From abri (“shelter”) + bus (“bus”). Genericized trademark.


youpin

fr-noun

youpin m (plural youpins, feminine youpine)

Earlier yaoudi; from Arabic يَهُودِيّ (yahūdiyy, “Jew”) + -pin.

af

Quand je lui dis ce premier jour qu’il s’appelait Bloch, elle s’écria : « Je l’aurais parié que c’était un youpin. C’est bien leur genre de faire les punaises. »

1919, Marcel Proust, À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs

When I told her on that first day that his name was Bloch, she shouted, "I should've guessed he was a kike. That's just like them to stir up trouble."

Un témoin oculaire affirma au père que, quand Nahon fut là, dans cet état, étendu devant lui, le capitaine Vidart lui administra une volée de coups de cravache en criant : « Sale juif, race infecte ! Si tu crèves, ça fera un youpin de moins ! »

1934, Roger Monclin, Les Damnés de la Guerre

An eyewitness confirmed to the priest that, when Nahon was there, in that state, spread out in front of him, Captain Vidart whipped him several times while shouting, "Filthy Jew, vile race! If you die, that'll be one less kike!"

(vulgar slang, racially offensive, ethnic slur) kike, yid


coton-tige

cotton swab, cotton bud (small wad of cotton wrapped around the end of a small rod)


boche

Either directly from tête de boche (“stubbornhead”), perhaps derived from caboche (“head”); or shortened from alboche, an alternation of allemand (“German”) influenced by tête de boche or the element -boche in rigolboche (“funny dance”), the latter perhaps ultimately from bamboche (“large marionette”).
Alternatively, from the German family name Bosch.

(derogatory, slang, ethnic slur) Boche, Kraut, German


chleuh

fr-noun

chleuh m (plural chleuhs, feminine chleuhe)

Borrowed from Moroccan Arabic شلوح (šlūḥ). Among the French military in northern Africa (Bataillon d'Afrique), it came to mean "one who could not speak French or even Arabic" and was later applied to the Germans, mainly during the Second World War.

schleuh

German; Germanized variant forms, used when the word means

(countable, derogatory, ethnic slur) a German; a kraut


vaseline

→ Turkish: vazelin

Borrowed from English. Genericized trademark.


travail d'arabe

(France, derogatory, ethnic slur) poorly, lazily executed work


bridé

fr-noun

bridé m (plural bridés, feminine bridée)

Qui craindrait un bridé ?

1989, Azouz Begag, Béni, ou, Le paradis privé

(derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive when used as a noun) chink, slant, slope (a person of East Asian descent)


rital

rital m (plural ritals, feminine ritale)

1890: from the regular plural form les Ital(ien)s (“Italians”, pronounced /le‿ʁital(jɛ̃)/), with unexplained /ʁ/ for /z/, maybe underlining the trouble Italians have with pronouncing the French Rs.

(ethnic slur) wop, dago (person of Italian descent)


Natel

Julien a perdu son natel!
Julien has lost his cellphone!


déchèterie

From déchet + -erie. Genericized trademark.

dump, tip, household waste recycling centre, civic amenity site


post-it

Borrowed from English post-it. Genericized trademark.


godon

fr-adj

godon (feminine godonne, masculine plural godons, feminine plural godonnes)

godonne (feminine)
godons (masculine plural)
godonnes (feminine plural)

Inherited from Middle French godon, speculatively connected to English God damn, although the profanity is not attested in Middle English.


mobylette

From the brand name, apparently from mobile + -ette.


canadair

Genericized trademark. From the company name Canadair, the manufacturer of the only purpose-built waterbomber, from the original version, Canadair CL-215. From English Canada+air, from being a Canadian aircraft manufacturer. Compare Greek καναντέρ (kanantér), Italian canadair, Serbo-Croatian kanader.

(France, firefighting, aviation) waterbomber (firefighting aircraft)


mercurochrome

From the commercial product Mercurochrome.


métèque

fr-noun

métèque m or f by sense (plural métèques)

→ Romanian: metec

Learned borrowing from Latin metoecus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek μέτοικος (métoikos).

(historical) metic (resident alien who did not have the rights of a citizen and who paid a tax for the right to live there)


câlisse

Quebec eye-dialect spelling of calice (“chalice”).

inflection of câlisser:
second-person singular imperative


négro

Borrowed from Spanish negro, first attested in 1845. Doublet of nègre, borrowed earlier from Spanish.


chiclette

From the brand name, ultimately from Spanish chicle, from Classical Nahuatl tzictli.


chinetoque

(slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) Chink (person of Chinese descent)


niakoué

niakoué m or f by sense (plural niakoués)

(offensive, by extension) Any South East Asian or Chinese person.


uberisation

Si vous ne croyez pas que votre métier puisse être uberisé, vous allez vous faire surprendre par des acteurs qui ne sont pas des historiques de votre métier. Ces gens voient d’autant mieux le potentiel d’uberisation qu’ils ne sont pas prisonniers de votre modèle.

2014 November 11, “L’uberisation, une opportunité historique”, in digital-collab.com

(please add an English translation of this quotation)

Car pour le magazine, l’uberisation du travail n’arrive pas par hasard en ces temps de chômage. Elle bénéficie surtout aux plus riches qui manquent de temps et délèguent certaines tâches à des travailleurs plus pauvres qui, eux, manquent d’argent.

2015 January 15, “L’uberisation du travail decryptée”, in www.usinenouvelle.com

(neologism) Alternative spelling of ubérisation


tancarville

Genericized trademark, from Tancarville, from the resemblance to the pylons of Tancarville Bridge.

En clair, le tancarville (sans la majuscule) est à l’étendoir ce que Don Juan est au séducteur (registre non commercial), le scotch au ruban adhésif, ou la mobylette au cyclomoteur : un nom propre entré dans le langage courant.

2018 August 13, Corinne Bouchouchi, “Mais qu'est devenu ce bon vieux Tancarville ?!”, in Nouvel Obs


tylenol

tylenol f (countable and uncountable, plural tylenols)

(North America, uncountable) tylenol, the pharmaceutical drug acetaminophen (“paracetamol”)

(North America, countable) a tylenol tablet


boule Quies

Genericized trademark. Quies is from the Latin quies (“calm, quiet”).


fermeture éclair

fermeture éclair f (plural fermetures éclair)

Calque of English lightning fastener, a trademark. Genericized trademark.


skidoo

Antonomasia from Ski-Doo, a brand of snowmobiles.

(Canada) Synonym of motoneige: a snowmobile


chamallow

From the Chamallow brand of marshmallows, owned by Haribo.


niak

(countable, derogatory, ethnic slur) an East Asian or South Asian person;

(countable, derogatory, ethnic slur) a sub-Saharan African


volucompteur

Blend of volume + compteur. Brand name, coined in 1964.

a type of volumeter used for volume flow rate, particularly in the oil industry


croissanterie

croissanterie (shop selling croissants and other fast-food)


ubérisation

A neologism composed of the brand name Uber and the suffix -isation.

(neologism) uberisation (the adoption of a business model centred specifically on the use of smartphone apps to obtain services)


n*quer

Je pense les "avoir" le 11 Septembre. Y'a pas moyen qu'ils ne sortent pas
et que je ne sois pas prêt... Enfin, depuis le temps que je me fais
n*quer... Tu préfères quoi ? Dia ou néga (au point où j'en suis je t'offre
le choix).

2002 August 18, Mathieu Chouquet-Stringer, “L'est fière la Grenouille ,;O))”, in fr.rec.aviation (Usenet)


b*t*

Non mais c'est vrai. A quoi ça sert un anime hentai si on voit même pas
les b*t*s et les c*ls !

2003 November 26, Benjamin FRANCOIS, “Manga x”, in fr.rec.anime (Usenet)


b*t*rd

Dire que c'est TOI qui traites tous les autres de " B*t*rds " ! ...

2002 March 31, Delta1, “RORO”, in fr.rec.humour (Usenet)

Je ne faisais que répondre à l'insanité haineuse du Talmud prétendant que
Jésus est un b*t*rd.

2002 August 24, R.V. Gronoff, “Cain et Abel”, in fr.soc.religion (Usenet)


crouille

From crouillat (which has the same meaning), from a Maghrebi Arabic word meaning "brother".
Ultimately from Arabic أخ (ʔaḵ, literally “brother”).

(ethnic slur, dated) a Maghrebi; a North-African Arab


apéricube

Genericized trademark; blend of apéritif + cube.

apericube (cube-shaped cheese-based food usually eaten with an apéritif)


plante efferalgan

plante efferalgan f (plural plantes efferalgan)

plante + Efferalgan. So named because the plant is used as a febrifuge.

Delachaux et Niestlé
w:fr:Delachaux et Niestlé

(Réunion) blue coleus (Coleus neochilus (Schltr.) Codd)