French Aphereses - Lawless French Vocabulary


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French abbreviations

A few dozen French words have a shortened form called an apheresis or aphaeresis, which is created by dropping one or more syllables at the beginning of the word. Some of these are further modified by adding an extra sound to the end.

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Many aphereses are informal.
Words created by dropping syllables at the end of the word are called apocopes (and are much more common than aphereses)

Apheresis	Register	Short for	Translation
Bastien	(nickname)	Sébastien
un blème	(fam)	un problème	problem
un bougna un bougnat	(archaic)	un charbougnat	coalman
un bouif	(inf)	un ribouis	cobbler
un bus		un autobus	bus

un car		un autocar	bus
le centile		percentile	percentile
un chandail		marchand d’ail	thick sweater
‘ci	(fam)	merci	thank you
un cipal	(archaic)	un garde municipal	~local police
Colas	(nickname)	Nicolas
‘core		encore	again, still

Drian	(nickname)	Adrian
droper	(inf)	adroper	to run

‘fin	(inf)	enfin	well, I mean

‘garde	(inf)	regarde	imperative
un gnard	(inf)	mignard	kid
un gnon	(inf)	oignon	hit, blow

‘Jour		Bonjour	Hello

las	(archaic)	hélas	alas

man	(inf)	maman	mom
Messieurs, ‘dames	(greeting)	Messieurs, Mesdames	Sir, Ma’am

le Net		l’Internet	internet

pitaine	(fam)	capitaine	captain

Sandre	(nickname)	Alexandre
‘Soir	(greeting)	Bonsoir	Good evening
Soize	(nickname)	Françoise
un steak		un beefsteak	steak

tiot	(inf)	petiot	tiny, teeny-weeny
Toine	(nickname)	Antoine
la touffeur	(archaic)	étouffer	sweltering heat
un troquet	(inf)	un mastroquet	café
tudieu	(archaic)	vertu (de) Dieu	zounds