French words we use 'wrong' in English

Here are some of my favorite examples of words that come from French but are used differently in English. What are yours? #languages #languagelearning #learnfrench #french #france

[royaventurera]

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[isabellebesancon]

The american insult "douche" is just a shower in French.

[Aditya-jvmp]

I was so confused when I saw entrée having main course dishes on the menu first time in the US lol

[TheUser]

Most places say CV. It’s not a french thing. It’s an acronym for curriculum vitae.

[TimFitzGeraldca]

« Entrée » is a weird one because the French meaning also evolved in the time since English adopted it. There’s a blog called « The Language of Food » that chronicles it, but tl;dr the original « entrée » in 1600s French cuisine was *a* hot main course before a roast. In American cuisine they kept the hot sense. It’s worth looking up if that kind of word play interests you.

[Hoelzchen]

In German, we have the word "Visage". In French, it just means "face". But in German, it means something like "ugly face". So, it's used as insult for someone's face.

[sadbutok]

The funniest one to me is “maitre d'”😂 Like who tf came up with that?!?!

[davidostrowski]

A la mode is 'in fashion' in British English. I've never heard of that ice cream thing! And CV is more common in the UK as well, and resume is a shorter form of the CV which personally I've never heard of anyone having or writing, like you said 'summary'.

[tfrtrouble]

This should be "French words we use wrong in American". As a native speaker of British English, the entree=main course thing confuses the hell out of me too.

[brightonuprach]

Thank you for specifying American English, because we use the words as intended in Australia.

[bhojjadamotabanda]

Entree is not used wrongly "in English" but "by North Americans" (who happen to speak English). Other English speakers around the world (including those who speak it as a second language like Indians) use it to mean the starters. The clue is in the name "Entree" (like entry).

[yuki_musha]

English -> French:
- Raisin -> raisin sec (litterally dry grape);
- Grape -> raisin;
- Cluster -> grappe (written "grape" in old French).

[christinehottinger]

Fun fact: CV is also used in the UK, and i think maybe Australia (definitely India if applying in English). The acronym does not stand for anything in French, but in Latin: Curriculum Vitae

[surfacetenn]

These words mostly apply to American English speakers not English speakers in general.

[notreallydavid]

UK here, friendly-ly - for me, the US 'entree' is up there with 'I could care less' as something that obviously makes no sense but sticks around anyway.

[Aishanaik_]

From Australia :- entree in Australia means an entry dish or appetiser.

Just US English is different

[AnnabethLaufeyson]

I have another french - polish word conflict.
Jaloux means jealous.
In polish we have blinds (żaluzje) which is from that french word.

[vokkera]

In Germany, they often say “safe” to mean “sure!”. It’s really weird, because the German word “sicher” means {sure, safe, secure}, and you can definitely use it that way, but using “safe” as a way to affirm something is basically the one way that word isn’t supposed to be used.

[theultimateraceofsleepy]

I always get confused about why we use entry for a main course. As a kid that shit would confuse me every time

[quentin]

CV Is latin Curriculum Vitae if anyone is wondering