Aphereses

French aphereses
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

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.

 À noter

  • 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


 These two aphereses are derogatory slang, for reference only. You should never say them.

boche alboche   German
ricain américain   American

 Related vocabulary

Clothes

Family

Food

  Greetings

People

Nationalities

 

Professions

Transportation

Weather

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French aphereses

Questions about French?

 Visit the Progress with Lawless French Q+A forum to get help from native French speakers and fellow learners.

More Lawless French

 Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter.

Support Lawless French

  This free website is created with love and a great deal of work.

If you love it, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation.

Your support is entirely optional but tremendously appreciated.

Leave a Reply