I think we’ve all heard this one when leaving on a trip of some kind. Je vais vous acheter un bijou ! (I will buy you a jewel/item of jewelry!) 6. The French word for a small gem or jewel, bijouhas adopted a completely different meaning in the English language.Īmongst us English speakers, it’s considered a classy way to describe something stylish while implying that it’s small, like a bijou champagne bar. (Andy Warhol was an avant-garde artist) 5. The artistic meaning holds in French, but it can also mean the “front line.”Īndy Warhol était un artiste de l’ avant-garde. “Before guard” or “advance guard” are the literal translations of this French phrase.Įnglish speakers know it as an innovative movement in the arts, usually pertaining to artists who are “advanced” in their fields. *The literal translation is “she is attached to the ambassador” 4. (She’s an attaché* to the Canadian ambassador.) While this one literally means “attached” in French, English uses it to refer to someone who works for an ambassador.Įlle est attachée à l’ambassadeur du Canada. This must have hopped languages when serving pastry and vanilla ice cream was very fashionable in France.Ĭ’est très à la mode ! (It’s very fashionable!) 3. In the US you will also see it used to indicate that a dish is served with ice cream. This means “of the fashion” in French and is a way of describing something trendy right now. Je voudrais des frites à la carte. (I would like an order of fries on their own.) 2. Meaning “according to a menu” in French, this phrase refers to choosing individual items off a menu in both languages. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. Here are 35 entirely French words that we use in English. While a majority of English words with French roots have morphed, changing spelling and sound, there are endless everyday words we use in English that have remained purely French. See also L & S entry for tango, tetigi, tactum - there are multiple literal and figurative uses meaning to touch, to strike and to affect, among others.French Words in English: 35 Words You Thought Were English… But Are Actually Frenchĭid you know that you were already semi-French before actually deciding to learn the language?Īt least 29 percent of the English language derives from “le français,” claiming French as the English language’s biggest influence-but wait, it gets better. Is made between literal and figurative meaning.Īcu rem tangere, to touch the thing with a needle, English, to hit the nail on the head See Lewis and Short entry for acus, -us f. “‘Rem acu once again,’ said Sir Piercie.”-The Monastery, chap. You have hit the mark you have hit the nail on the head. See Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Tetigisti is implied, but left out of theĪcu tactus is a more direct way of saying touché using the Here, the person is not "touched", but the matter is "touched by the point of a needle", Rem acu is a way of rendering the idea "point made". The Latin expression used by Plautus and then picked up by Erasmus ( Adagia II, iv, 93), rem acu tetigisti, immediately came to mind as potentially useful in answering your question. For it has been made clear to us that in no case is it just to harm anyone." And using a loanword, especially one which contains a non-native sound ("y"), gives it that slightly pretentious touch.Įxample: Plato's "Republic" 1.335e (translation based on Shorey 1969): The first singular present indicative was used often in Plato, usually by people trying to argue against Socrates. But in rhetoric or debate, it means to concede or grant a point to your opponent. It's a verb with many different meanings depending on context it can mean "combine, meet with" or "get out of the way of, withdraw from". This is (a transliteration of) the first singular present indicative active of Greek συγχωρέω. ![]() With that in mind, I would suggest synchōrō. It can also sound a bit pretentious to use the French loanword instead of plain English "granted". ![]() ![]() "Touché", to me, indicates that one is gracefully conceding a point in argument.
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