# french

Pronunciation: say "FRENCH" /fɹɛnt͡ʃ/

## Proper noun · French

1. The language of France, also spoken in neighboring Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and in former French colonies around the world.
   - Simple: The language people speak in France, and also in some nearby countries and places France once ruled.
   - _Her grandparents grew up in Quebec and still speak French at home._
   - _The instructions on the box were printed in English, French, and Spanish._
6. A particular person's ability to communicate in the French language.
   - Simple: How well someone can speak and understand French.
   - _Her French improved quickly after a semester in Lyon._
   - _His French was just good enough to argue with the taxi driver in Marseille._
7. The French language and its literature as a subject of study.
   - Simple: The French language and its books and writers, studied as a subject, for example at school.
   - _She majored in French and spent her junior year in Paris._
   - _The school dropped French from its course list and added Mandarin._
8. A polite, and now often joking, word for swearing or vulgar language.
   - Simple: A polite or joking word for swearing and rude words.
   - _Pardon my French, but that was a damn stupid call by the referee._
   - _The memo was all synergies and paradigm shifts, if you'll pardon my French._

## Adjective · French

2. Belonging to or connected with the country of France.
   - Simple: From France, or connected with the country of France.
   - _The French government announced new rules for electric cars on Tuesday._
   - _Our train crossed the French border near Geneva late in the evening._
3. Relating to the people of France or to their culture and way of life.
   - Simple: Connected with the people of France and the way they live.
   - _The novel offers a warm portrait of French village life after the war._
   - _Their wedding mixed French and Moroccan traditions, from the food to the music._
5. Relating to the French language, such as its words, sounds, or grammar.
   - Simple: Having to do with the language people speak in France.
   - _French spelling keeps many letters that are no longer pronounced._
   - _She checked every French verb ending twice before handing in the translation._
12. Used in names and phrases that refer to an unconventional or fancy style of making or doing something.
   - Simple: Used in the names of things made or done in an unusual or fancy way.
   - _The draftsman traced the smooth arc with a French curve._
   - _For the gala he chose a dress shirt with French cuffs and silver cufflinks._
14. Used informally, and often as a euphemism, in names and references for venereal diseases. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Used in some polite-sounding names for diseases that people catch through sex.
   - _The ship's surgeon dosed two sailors with mercury for the French pox._
   - _His letters from the front hint that he was suffering from the French disease._
15. Relating to oral sex, especially fellatio. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Having to do with sex that uses the mouth.

## Noun · French

4. The people of France as a whole, or a group of people from France.
   - Simple: The people of France, thought of together as one group.
   - _Polls suggest the French are divided over the new pension law._
   - _In the war film, the British and the French defend the bridge together._
13. A person from France, in the English of non-native speakers.
   - Simple: A person from France, a use heard mostly from people still learning English.
   - _"My husband is a French, from near Lyon," she explained in careful English._
   - _In his first English essay, the exchange student wrote that his best friend was a French who loved soccer._

## Verb

9. To kiss someone, or kiss each other, while putting one's tongue into the other person's mouth.
   - Simple: To kiss someone, putting your tongue into their mouth.
   - _At the end of the film, he finally frenched the girl he had liked all summer._
   - _She dared him to french his date in front of the whole table._
10. To prepare food for cooking or serving by cutting it into strips.
   - Simple: To get food ready by cutting it into long, thin pieces.
   - _Trim the ends of the green beans, then french them before steaming._
   - _The cook frenched a pile of zucchini for the stir-fry._
11. To remove the fat and meat covering a bone so the bare bone shows for a stylish look, as on a rack of lamb or bone-in rib-eye.
   - Simple: To cut the fat and meat off a bone so the clean bone shows and looks nice.
   - _Ask the butcher to french the rack of lamb so the rib bones are clean._
   - _The chef frenched each bone-in rib-eye before searing it._

## Noun · French

16. Oral sex, especially fellatio. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Sex that uses the mouth, especially on a man.
   - _The detective found a price list in the escort's purse that charged extra for French._
   - _The clinic's leaflet warned that French without a condom still carried a risk of infection._
17. Short for French vermouth, a dry vermouth. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Short for French vermouth. People used it when ordering drinks, as in gin and French.
   - _She asked the bartender for a gin and French with a twist of lemon._
   - _Grandpa still makes his martinis with a splash of French instead of sweet vermouth._

## Other meanings

- (proper noun) A family name that began as a word for a French person.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–8, 12–17** — Inherited from Middle English Frenche, from Old English Frenċisċ ("Frankish, French"), from Proto-West Germanic *Frankisk, equivalent to Frank + -ish; compare Danish and Swedish fransk ("French"). The use for swear words comes from expressions such as pardon my French in the early 19th century, and the use for vermouth is short for French vermouth, usually drier than Italian vermouth.
**Meanings 9–11** — From the adjective French (from Old English Frencisc, "Frankish, French"), after French ways of cutting and trimming food and after the French kiss.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/french (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).