List of English words of French origin

Also excluded are words that come from French but were introduced into English via another language, e.g. commodore, domineer, filibuster, ketone, loggia, lotto, mariachi, monsignor, oboe, paella, panzer, picayune, ranch, vendue, and veneer.

Consider, for example, some of the most common words in English: able, car, chair, city, country, different, fact, fine, fruit, group, journey, juice, just, large, move, part, people, person, place, point, problem, public, push, real, remain, stay, table, travel, use, very, and wait.

Words from Anglo-Norman or Old French include terms related to chivalry (homage, liege, peasant, seigniorage, suzerain, vassal, villain) and other institutions (bailiff, chancellor, council, government, mayor, minister, parliament), the organisation of religion (abbey, clergy, cloister, diocese, friar, mass, parish, prayer, preach, priest, sacristy, vestment, vestry, vicar), the nobility (baron, count, dame, duke, marquis, prince, sir), and the art of war (armour, baldric, dungeon, hauberk, mail, portcullis, rampart, surcoat).

Sometimes used in heraldry, some mythological beasts (cockatrice, dragon, griffin, hippogriff, phoenix, wyvern) and exotic animals (lion, leopard, antelope, gazelle, giraffe, camel, zebu, elephant, baboon, macaque, mouflon, dolphin, ocelot, ostrich, chameleon) draw their name from French.

This is also true for some animals native to Europe (via Anglo-Norman: buzzard, coney, eagle, egret, falcon, ferret, heron, leveret, lizard, marten, rabbit, salmon, squirrel, viper).

The vocabulary of warfare and the military includes many words and expressions of French origin (accoutrements, aide-de-camp, army, artillery, battalion, bivouac, brigade, camouflage, carabineer, cavalry, cordon sanitaire, corps, corvette, dragoon, espionage, esprit de corps, état major, fusilier, grenadier, guard, hors-de-combat, infantry, latrine, legionnaire, logistics, matériel, marine, morale, musketeer, officer, pistol, platoon, reconnaissance/reconnoitre, regiment, rendezvous, siege, soldier, sortie, squad, squadron, surrender, surveillance, terrain, troop, volley).

The political/economic lexicon includes many words of French origin such as money, treasury, exchequer, commerce, finance, tax, liberalism, capitalism, materialism, nationalism, plebiscite, coup d'état, regime, sovereignty, state, administration, federal, bureaucracy, constitution, jurisdiction, district.

attaché, chargé d'affaires, envoy, embassy, chancery, diplomacy, démarche, communiqué, aide-mémoire, détente, entente, rapprochement, accord, treaty, alliance, passport, protocol.

aisle, arcade, arch, vault, voussoir, belfry, arc-boutant, buttress, bay, lintel, estrade, facade, balustrade, terrace, lunette, niche, pavilion, pilaster, porte cochère.

France played a pioneering role in the fields of aviation (nacelle, empennage, fuselage, fenestron, aileron, altimeter, canard, decalage, monocoque, turbine) and automobile engineering or design (chassis, piston, arbor, grille, tonneau, berline, sedan, limousine, cabriolet, coupé, convertible).

baba au rhum, beef, beef bourguignon, boudin, caramel, casserole, cassoulet, chowder, clafoutis, confit, consommé, cream, croissant, custard, filet mignon, fillet, foie gras, flognarde, fondant, fondue, gateau, gratin, madeleine, marmalade, mayonnaise, meringue, mille-feuille, mustard, mutton, navarin, pâté, pastry, petit four, pork, porridge, potage, pudding, puree, ragout, ratatouille, roux, salad, sauce, sausage, soufflé, soup, stew, terrine, trifle, veal, venison, vol-au-vent.

Other borrowings include the names of colours (ecru, mauve, beige, carmine, maroon, blue, orange, violet, vermilion, turquoise, lilac, perse, russet, scarlet, cerise), and months of the year (January, March, May, July, November, December).

Some English words come from the French surnames of famous people, especially in the fields of science (ampere, appertisation, baud, becquerel, braille, coulomb, curie, daguerreotype, pascal, pasteurise, vernier), botany and mineralogy (begonia, bougainvillea, clementine, magnolia, dolomite, nicotine), fashion and other cultural aspects (lavalier, leotard, recamier, mansard, chauvinism, praline, saxophone, silhouette, guillotine).

The names of some cities in non-francophone areas came into English with French spelling (Louisville, Constance, Ypres, Bruges, Louvain, Turin, Milan, Plaisance, Florence, Rome, Naples, Syracuse, Vienna, Prague, Munich, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Seville, Constantinople).

Beside re-Latinization that blurred the French origin of some words (e.g. foliage, peradventure), other spelling changes have included alterations due to folk etymology e.g. andiron, belfry, crayfish, cutlet, female, furbelow, gillyflower, gingerbread, penthouse, pickaxe, pulley.

[3] More recent borrowings from French have kept their original spelling and a more or less close approximation their original pronunciation: (e.g. ambiance, aplomb, arbitrage, armoire, atelier, barrage, bonhomie, bourgeoisie, brochure, bureau, café, camaraderie, catalogue, chandelier, chauffeur, coiffure, collage, cortège, crèche, critique, debris, décor, dénouement, depot, dossier, élite, entourage, ennui, entrepreneur, espionage, expertise, exposé, fatigue, financier, garage, genre, glacier, intrigue, liaison, lingerie, machine, massage, millionaire, mirage, montage, panache, parti pris, penchant, personnel, plaque, programme, promenade, rapport, rapporteur, repertoire, reservoir, ricochet, routine, sabotage, sachet, souvenir, tableau, terrain, tranche).