The french have a word for it

The French have a word for it
When English is short of a word it often takes one from a foreign language
Over the centuries the English language has assimilated phrases and words from other languages.



Here are some examples.


A cappella, Italian, sung without instrumental accompaniment (literally “in chapel style”)
Ad hoc, Latin, made or done for a particular purpose (lit. “to this”)
Agent provocateur, French, a person who tempts a suspected criminal to commit a crime so that they can be caught and convicted (lit. “provocative agent”)
Al dente, Italian, (of food) cooked so as to be still firm when bitten (lit. “to the tooth”)
Alfresco, Italian, in the open air (lit. “in the fresh”)
Bête noire, French, a person or thing one particularly dislikes (lit. “black beast”)
Blitzkrieg, German, an intense, violent military campaign intended to bring about a swift victory (lit. “lightning war”)
Carte blanche, French, complete freedom to act as one wishes (lit. “blank paper”)
Caveat emptor, Latin, the buyer is responsible for checking the quality of goods before purchasing them (lit. “let the buyer beware”)
C’est la guerre, French, used as an expression of resigned acceptance (lit. “that’s war”)
Chacun à son goût, French, everyone to their own taste
Chef-d’oeuvre, French, a masterpiece (lit. “chief work”)
Coup de foudre, French, love at first sight (lit. “stroke of lightning”)
De facto, Latin, in fact, whether by right or not
Déjà vu, French, the sense of having experienced the present situation before (lit. “already seen”)
Dernier cri, French, the very latest fashion (lit. “the last cry”)
Deus ex machina, Latin, an unexpected event that saves an apparently hopeless situation (lit. “god from the machinery”)
Dolce far niente, Italian, pleasant idleness (lit. “sweet doing nothing”)
Doppelgänger, German, an apparition or double of a living person (lit. a “double-goer”)
Double entendre, French, a word or phrase with two possible interpretations (from obsolete French, “double understanding”)
Eminence grise, French, a person who has power or influence without holding an official position (lit. “grey eminence”)
Enfant terrible, French, a person whose behaviour is unconventional or controversial (lit. “terrible child”)
Esprit de corps, French, a feeling of pride and loyalty uniting the members of a group (lit. “spirit of body”)
Fait accompli, French, a thing that has been done or decided and cannot now be altered (lit. “accomplished fact”)
Femme fatale, French, a seductive woman (lit. “disastrous woman”)
Haute couture, French, designing and making of clothes by fashion houses (lit.“high dressmaking”)
In camera, Latin, in private (lit. “in the chamber”)
In loco parentis, Latin, in the place of a parent
Inter alia, Latin, among other things
Jeunesse dorée, French, wealthy, fashionable young people (lit. “gilded youth”)
Katzenjammer, German, a hangover or severe headache accompanying a hangover (lit. “cats’ wailing”)
Laissez-faire, French, a non-interventionist policy (lit. “allow to do”)
Magnum opus, Latin, the most important work of an artist, writer etc (lit. “great work”)
Manqué, French, having failed to become what one might have been (lit. from manquer “to lack”)
Memento mori, Latin, something kept as a reminder that death is inevitable (lit. “remember (that you have) to die”)
Ménage à trois, French, an arrangement in which a married couple and the lover of one of them live together (lit. “way of living”)
Mot juste, French, the most appropriate word or expression
Ne plus ultra, Latin, the best example of something (lit. “not further beyond”)
Non sequitur, Latin, a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous statement (lit. “it does not follow”)
Nouveau riche, French, people who have recently become rich and who display their wealth ostentatiously (lit. “new rich”)
Papabile, Italian, worthy or eligible to be elected pope
Pied-à-terre, French, a small flat or house kept for occasional use (lit. “foot to earth”)
Prima facie, Latin, accepted as so until proved otherwise (lit. “at first face”)
Quid pro quo, Latin, a favour or advantage given in return for something (lit. “something for something”)
Raison d’être, French, the most important reason for someone or something’s existence (lit. “reason for being”)
Reductio ad absurdam, Latin, a method of disproving a premise by showing that its logical conclusion is absurd (lit. “reduction to the absurd”)
Sangfroid, French, the ability to stay calm in difficult circumstances (lit. “cold blood”)
Soi-disant, French, self-styled; so-called (lit. “self-saying”)
Sui generis, Latin, unique (lit. “of its own kind”)
Tant mieux, French, so much the better
Tête-à-tête, French, a private conversation (“head to head”)
Vox populi, Latin, public opinion (lit. “the voice of the people”)
Zeitgeist, German, the characteristic spirit or mood of a particular historical period (lit. “time spirit”)
— © Oxford University Press 2007
Extracted from The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus (ed. Maurice Waite, 2007)Buy the Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus (RRP £30) for the offer price of £25.50 (inc p&p) from BooksFirst on 0870 1608080 or timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst





To correct the correctors:



-"reductio" is a feminine noun, hence "absurdam" is correct. -"ne plus ultra" is correct. -"soi-disant" is correct. "Soit" is subjunctive imperative - "let it be". "Soi" is a reflexive pronoun - hence "self saying."
Joy Sword, Cambridge,


Please note that if you tell an italian that he should be 'Al Fresco', he understands that he should be in jail. That universally the italian understanding of the phrase which only literally means at the open air. Moreover we normally put 'Al fresco' a good bottle of wine before drinking it (i.e. in the refrigerator).
Gino, Milano, Italia
Merci, Pierre!
P, Chevy Chase, MD

It's "soit disant" not "soi-disant"; it means pretending or so-called.
Joe Kindy, New York, USA


Ne plus ultra, Latin, the best example of something (lit. “not further beyond”) Is it not "Nec plus ultra"? perhaps a typo? But then, que sais-je?
Anne, Montreal, Quebec


Children here in the USA have their own native expression for the principle of caveat emptor- "no backsies"

James Polichak, Chicago, IL


A newspaper, or a snooze-paper? I hardly think copying slabs out of a grammar textbook qualifies for breakfast table reading.
John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England


Those literary translations are absolutely preposterous (most of the time you cannot translate expressions literally in this way). And when they're not preposterous, they're wrong: since when does 'Ménage à trois' mean 'way of living', literally or not?
Bela, London, UK


You are wrong with the meaning of Katzenjammer. It is not a hangover; that's a "Kater" (=tom-cat). Katzenjammer describes a situation when there is lots of moaning about predictable negative results of your actions.
Hans Benzinger, Vienna, Austria


So does English! Most of these expressions have their exact English equivalents and anyone using the foreign terms apart from lawyers who sometimes have to, must be mealy-mouthed prats trying to impress. I should know because I have to translate a lot of them from German and French on a regular for a living.
Brompeter, Fulton,


Ménage à trois is a triple or threefold household. It does not imply necessarily a married couple, nor does it translate literally as “way of living” but as "household of three".
Pierre Jelenc, New York City,
Carte blanche, French, = blank (playing) card M鮡ge à trois, French, = household of three
Ben JW Berg, Blue, Texas
It is "reductio ad absurdum," not "... absurdam."
John, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
They forgot to add "Schadenfreude" - one of the best words ever borrowed from German into English...
MB, Edinburgh,


How about "concubinage"? French for cohabitation of a man or woman without legal or formal marriage.
Anne Riana, Singapore,


Ménage à trois: literally, this means "a three-person household", not "way of living" as indicated above.
Paris Observer, Paris,