french
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
The language of France, shared by the neighboring countries Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and by former French colonies around the world.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
frehnchIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹɛntʃ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
chiefly uncountable
The language of France, shared by the neighboring countries Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and by former French colonies around the world.
The Romance language spoken in France and in countries colonized by France
chiefly collective and in the plural
The people of France; groups of French people.
countablenon-native speakers' English
A French person.
uncountable
French language and literature as an object of study.
uncountable
The ability of a person to communicate in French.
adjective
Of or relating to the people or culture of France.
Of or pertaining to France or the people of France
Used to form names or references to an unconventional or fancy style.
informaloften euphemistic
Used to form names or references to venereal diseases.
Of or relating to the French language.
verb
transitive
To kiss (another person) while inserting one's tongue into the other person's mouth.
intransitive
To kiss in this manner.
transitive
To prepare food by cutting it into strips.
Alternative letter-case form of french.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The language of France, shared by the neighboring countries Belgium, Monaco, and Switzerland and by former French colonies around the world.
Used this way, french is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use french
- “She speaks French fluently, having studied it for many years.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.