Content tagged with “french” under “Stuff I Looked Up”

There are 19 item(s) tagged with “french” in this section.

See items tagged with “french” across the entire site.

Other tags used by these items: definition, geography, language, idiom, art, military, slang, cooking, cars, food, linguistics

Abbatoir
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
March 1, 2025
Words
81

“ This is another name for a slaughterhouse. It comes from a French word for ‘to strike down.’ ”

Aide-de-Camp
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
June 15, 2023
Words
112

“This is literally French for ‘aid in the [military] camp’ or ‘camp assistant.’ It’s a title for the assistant of someone with high rank. Almost all references I saw had a military or royal context to them. The civilian title would be ‘administrative assistant’ or ‘chief of staff.’ The pronunciation…”

Bete Noire
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
October 16, 2021
Words
43

“ It literally means ‘black beast’ in French. The first word is pronounced ‘bet.’ In several definitions, I found the word ‘bugbear.’ A bugbear is a random, scary mythical creature, the name of which also means something to be avoid, or a pet peeve. ”

Bien Pensant
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
June 1, 2024
Words
42

“ It’s literal French for ‘well thinking’ or ‘good thinking.’ ”

Bien Sûr
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
June 8, 2023
Words
79

“ This is literally French for ‘of course,’ which isn’t interesting, but I’ve never seen it used in an English context before. ”

Bisque
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
December 28, 2024
Words
73

“This a French word to describe a creamy soup. It used to refer to shellfish-based soups: crab bisque, lobster bisque, etc. But it can also refer to any soup with a cream base. Etymology is disputed. Some sources claim it refers to the Bay of Biscay, which is the water north of Spain and west of…”

Bourgeois Culture
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
September 26, 2024
Words
868

“This phrase appeared in an infamous 2017 column in The Philadelphia Inquirer, entitled Paying the price for breakdown of the country’s bourgeois culture written by Amy Wax and Larry Alexander. In the column, Wax and Alexander complained that a move away from the traditional values and culture of…”

Brittany
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
November 2, 2024
Words
175

“This is the extreme western region of France. It’s mostly a peninsula that extends into the Atlantic. The largest city in the region is Rennes, with about 750,000 in its metro area. (Interestingly, the two other large cities are named Vannes and Nantes, which points to some common etymology.)…”

“Je Ne Sais Quoi”
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
January 15, 2022
Words
57

“ French for ‘I don’t know what.’ It means some quality that you find appealing, but cannot describe in words. ”

Mise-en-Place
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
September 8, 2021
Words
83

“French for ‘putting in place,’ it refers to the physical workspace of a craftsman. It was popularized as a term for a chef’s work area, arranged and organized for maximum productivity, but now refers to the general idea of optimizing one’s physical – and increasingly virtual – environment for work….”

Monocoque
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
December 9, 2021
Words
114

“The name is French for ‘single shell.’ This is a type of vehicle where the main load-bearing structure is an enclosed shell, rather than behind (1) body-on-frame, or (2) unibody. A unibody vehicle has panels which are fastened together to provide structure. However, a true monocoque is…”

Noblesse Oblige
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
March 29, 2024
Words
128

“This is an expression that roughly translates to ‘obligation of the noble.’ It refers to the belief that the privileged people in society are obliged to assist others through charity. While sounding benevolent, in usage, it tends to imply a level of faux altruism, and gives justification for their…”

Objet d’art
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Words
155

“Curiously, it’s not object (with a ‘c’), it’s objet . It’s French for ‘object or art’ or ‘art object’ or ‘work of art.’ The Wikipedia page notes: The term is somewhat flexible, and is often used as a broad term for ‘everything else’ after major categories have been dealt with. The key is ‘object.’…”

Oeuvre
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
June 26, 2023
Words
72

“It’s literally French for ‘work.’ So, to discuss ‘Picasso’s oeuvre’ is to simply discuss Picasso’s work. It’s pronounced differently in English and French, and, honestly, I got a lot of different opinions on it. The two most popular: One syllable, rhymes with ‘swerve’ (take away the ‘sw’) Two…”

Parfait
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
July 4, 2022
Words
148

“In the American usage, it’s a layered dish, served in a tall glass, so the layers are visible. A yogurt parfait is usually layers of yogurt, fruit, and granola An ice cream parfait is ice cream, fruit, and whipped cream In France, there’s another usage for a frozen custard dessert (no layering)….”

Patois
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
May 3, 2023
Words
263

“It’s French, pronounced ‘PAT-twah.’ There’s a blurry line between what is a patois and what is an entirely different language. A common example is Jamaican English – is this a regional dialect, or a form of creole? Also murky is where the line sits between a ‘accent’ and a ‘dialect’ or patois. This…”

-ville
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
September 8, 2021
Words
274

“It’s a French suffix meaning ‘city,’ ‘town,’ or ‘farm.’ The French were allies during the American Revolution. From Wikipedia : France’s help was a major and decisive contribution towards the United States’ eventual victory and independence in the war. This led to positive French sentiment after…”

vis-a-vis
Section
Stuff I Looked Up
Type
Explanation
Date
May 6, 2022
Words
10

“ It’s literally French for ‘face to face.’ ”