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60+ French Slang Words & Phrases That You’re Not Aware Of

French is one of the world’s top ten most widely spoken languages. You can hear the language spoken on nearly every continent, even if you are not in Europe. French is the official language of 29 countries, the European Union’s (EU) procedural language, and the only language used in EU Court of Justice deliberations.

Around 300 million people speak French, according to a recent study. This includes native speakers, second language learners, and a variety of French dialects. Many major higher education destinations, such as France, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium, speak French.

We recommend that you devote some time to learning French now that we have established that it is an important language, particularly for international students. Though learning the fundamentals of French can be challenging and time-consuming, we thought it would be a good idea to teach you some common French slang phrases words to help you get a better understanding of the language.

These slangs in French will not allow you to freely converse with a native French speaker, but they will provide you with some words to impress your friends and peers.

French Slang Words

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General Everyday French Slang Words

These French slangs are understood throughout the French-speaking world. 

  • bouffer – to eat.
  • draguer – to flirt.
  • piquer – to steal.
  • une arnaque – a scam.
  • un truc – a thing.
  • déboussolé – disorientated.
  • un type, un mec – a guy.
  • une meuf – a woman.
  • un mail – an email.
  • gerber – to vomit.
  • c’est nul – that sucks
  • nickel! – perfect.
  • c’est top that’s great
  • flasher sur quelqu’un – to have a crush on someone
  • une piastre – a dollar.
  • les bas – socks.
  • bordel – a large mess.
  • balle – bullet.
  • baraque – a house.
  • BG – This is a popular acronym in the common French slang. It stands for beau gosse, which means a handsome man. 
  • blé – money. 
  • bobo – an injury. 
  • une clope – cigarette. This is actually one of the most popular slang French words in Paris. 
  • kiffer – to like something.
  • ouf – awesome. 
  • être vénère – angry or annoyed. 

Common French Slang Words And Phrases 

These are French slang phrases where the individual words in the sentence are not slang, but they combine into a sentence that is used as a slang.

  • T’inquiète – a short version of Ne t’inquiète pas meaning ‘Don’t worry.
  • T’en fais pas or Ne t’en fais pas – Don’t make any or Don’t worry.
  • Un coup de téléphone – a phone call.
  • C’est n’importe quoi – It’s nonsense.
  • Il a ma peau He’s out to get me.
  • Perdre la tête – ‘to lose one’s head’, just like the same phrase in English.
  • Pas pire – Not bad.
  • Faire un téléphone – to make a phone call.
  • Ça va? Ça va! – ‘How are you?’ ‘Good!”
  • Arrête de te la péter – This is one of the most common slang French words used to tell someone to stop being a show-off or stop bragging.
  • Je me casse – I am out of here.
  • Il capte rien – He doesn’t understand anything.
  • Laisse tomber – Let it go.
  • J’ai la flemme – I am not in the mood to do a task.
  • J’ai un petit creux – I am a bit hungry.

Regional French Vocabulary

French slang is so extensive that there are different iterations of it in different parts of France. Here are some french slang phrases that are used only in certain smaller French-speaking regions – 

A Pencil

  • un crayon gris (in southern France)
  • un crayon de bois (in northern France)
  • un crayon (everywhere else)

A Pen

  • un Bic (Belgium and Kinshasa, DRC)
  • un crayon (commonly used in Quebec for “pen” although it also means “pencil”)

A Plastic Grocery Bag

  • une poche (in southwestern France)
  • un pochon (in small regions of central and western France)
  • un sachet (near the French-German border)
  • un cornet (in Switzerland)
  • un sac en plastique (understood throughout France)

A Chocolate Croissant

  • une chocolatine (in Quebec and in the Toulouse region of France)
  • un petit pain (in northern France)
  • un pain au chocolat (in the rest of France)

Shoes

  • les baskets (in France – refers only to trainers/running shoes)
  • souliers (in Quebec – refers only to everyday shoes. Considered an old-fashioned word in France)
  • les chaussures (understood throughout the French-speaking world)

A Restaurant Bill/Check

  • une addition (in France)
  • une facture (in Quebec)

Now that we are having fun with french slang words, let’s go over the most common French Text Slang. 

Slang used in French ‘textos’ is a lot like English slang. Most of the french slang words are abbreviated common words and expressions. French text slang messages tends to be universal, not regional.

  • slt (salut), bjr (bonjour) – hello
  • stp (s’il te plaît), svp (s’il vous plaît) – please.
  • cad (c’est-à-dire) – that is to say.
  • A+ (à plus tard) – see you later.
  • pq (pourquoi) – why.
  • wétu (où es-tu) – where are you.
  • je t’m (je t’aime) – I love you. 

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog on The Most Common French Slang Words. If you wish to read similar blogs, here are some link that you could check out –

FAQs

1. What is the weirdest French slang?

This popular language can also tend to be a bit funny at times. A variety of French slang is spoken in different regions of France as well as in different French speaking countries across the world. The French have an extensive repertoire of funny and weird slang terms in the language.

2. What are some commonly used French slang expressions?

French slang encompasses daily items and happenings, funny terms, and general expressions. There are some French slang expressions that are widely spoken and understood by the entire French speaking population and there are some that are only used regionally.

3. Is there a French urban dictionary for French slang?

While there is no particular French urban dictionary to help you learn some quick French slang, you can scour the net to pick up global French slang phrases and expressions. There are quite some resources that will help you pick up some widely-spoken French slang.

4. Is it easy to learn French slang or common terms?

Like many languages that share an English base, French might also not seem as challenging to learn as it seems. The language is especially easy to pick up if you have fluent French speaking friends who can help you practice and learn the language faster! Additionally, movies, songs and TV shows in French will help you gain a better understanding of what the spoken language sounds like as well as help you with its pronunciation.

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60+ French Slang Words & Phrases That You’re Not Aware Of