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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.
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 |
| 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 |
| ‘core | encore | again, still | |
| 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 |
| ‘Soir | (greeting) | Bonsoir | Good evening |
| un steak | un beefsteak | steak | |
| tiot | (inf) | petiot | tiny, teeny-weeny |
| la touffeur | (archaic) | étouffer | sweltering heat |
| un troquet | (inf) | un mastroquet | café |
| tudieu | (archaic) | vertu (de) Dieu | zounds |
Nicknames
| Apheresis | Short for | |
| Bastien | Sébastien | |
| Colas | Nicolas | |
| Drian | Adrian | |
| Sandre | Alexandre | |
| Soize | Françoise | |
| Toine | Antoine | |
| Tophe | Christophe |
These two aphereses are derogatory slang, for reference only. You should never say them.
| boche | alboche | German | |
| ricain | américain | American |
Related vocabulary
| Greetings |
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