Pronunciation of French in English Definition
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French
adj
- 1. Belonging or relating to France, a republic in NW Europe, its inhabitants or their language.
- 1. The people of France.
- Form: the French
3. One of the official languages of Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland, etc.
4. A language spoken in many former French colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania.
- colloq
Usually said after swearing: please excuse my bad language.
Info:
- ○ In the dictionary we give an anglicized pronunciation of French for words which are in common use in English. The main difference between an Anglicized and a real French pronunciation is the exact quality of the vowels. In the examples below we give pronunciations as they are in the dictionary, ie usually Anglicized, but occasionally real French. The latter are marked French.
- ○ With nasalized vowels, as in vin blanc and aide-de-camp, try to match the French pronunciation as closely as possible.
- ○ u is pronounced /y/, rather like the common Scottish pronunciation of the vowel in words such as you and book.
- ○ ch is pronounced /G/, not /tG/, as in French loan words such as brochure, champagne, chic and echelon.
- ○ Final s, x and z are usually not pronounced in French, as in faux pas /foL pA:/. However they are pronounced before a following vowel, as in faux ami (/French fozami/ or vous avez /French vuzave/).
- ○ gn is pronounced /nj/, as in the French pronunciation of bourgignon /French buYginjT/
- ○ ll after an i may be either silent (or /French j/, as in ratatouille, or /l/, as in mille. Note that the name of the cream-and-pastry cake millefeuille is therefore pronounced /French milfZj/.
