Search and definitions of the word "chat" in the "Dictionnaires des francophones" on March 16, 2020 -

Caputre screens

On the occasion of the week of the French language and the Francophonie, the Ministry of Culture is launching the

Dictionary of Francophones

, sponsored by Leïla Slimani.

This participatory online dictionary project aims to offer words, expressions and definitions from all over the French-speaking world, ie from 52 countries, 112 locations and 300 million speakers spread over all continents.

With its 500,000 starting terms and its million definitions, this dictionary intends to grow as the Francophonie itself evolves.

Uses, weather, regional mixtures… French is constantly changing and enriching itself.

This characteristic eclecticism can be found in the meaning of certain words which sometimes differs completely from one place in the world to another!

20 Minutes

leafed through (well, scrolling in fact) this dictionary to discover 10 specific words and expressions - and often unknown to those who only practice standard French French - from French regions, but also from the French-speaking world of Europe, Africa, Oceania or even American.

"Undermine"

One immediately thinks of the classic definition of Saper: "destroy the foundations of a belief, an idea, a civilization ... or a building".

More colloquially, we think of "dressing" with "saper".

In Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast or Central Africa, we stick to this idea of ​​dressing but adding the idea of ​​elegance, beautiful clothes.

And then… in Canada, that means chewing or drinking loudly!

Surprise!

"Gazer"

In France, the most common meaning of "gas" would be to poison someone with asphyxiating gas.

We may also be surprised to discover that it can mean, for example, "to smoke a cigarette", "to get drunk" or even "to express the exasperation that a person may feel in front of another comrade" ... You may discover to be also in Quebec "to gas" means "to fill up with gasoline" and in Ivory Coast "to go out in night club"!

" A diskette "

A "floppy disk" or "small flexible disk enclosed in a rigid envelope, used in data processing as a removable means of storage of information".

Let's not be gullible, if there was only one meaning, it wouldn't be funny!

A floppy disk is also the “spiel intended to flirt with girls”.

In Senegal it has become a way of simply designating an "attractive young girl" or "a young girl, young woman, slim and who dresses and behaves in a resolutely modern way".

Most interesting shift in meaning.

You must not zwanzer with the fanafody

Mixture with other languages ​​and cultures, lexical borrowings and metamorphoses, neologisms… Other words or expressions may not mean anything to you at all at first glance, this is the opportunity to discover them!

"

  Gasoline"?

A gas station in Canada, Senegal or Chad!

"Bobette"?

A little panties in Quebec.

"Fanafody"?

A traditional remedy or a potion in Madagascar.

"Zwanzer"?

Joking in Belgium.

"Have a sweet mouth"?

In Benin, "to be talkative" or, in Ivory Coast, "to be talkative, honeyed, persuasive".

"Chichi fada"?

Marseille expression meaning "not to be erect".

Coming from standard French but just as foreign to our ears, we also find in the

Dictionary of Francophones

words that no one (or almost) ever uses ... So, for information, "cuniculiculture" is the breeding of rabbits for

smart

people

.

And a "cucurbitacist" means a person who collects the labels of melons - an unsuspected passion but we must believe that it is more widespread than one imagines with a precise word to qualify this practice… Enough to considerably enrich your parts of Petit-bac or Scrabble.

Society

For the Oxford Dictionary, the words of the year 2020 are ...

Culture

Spelling: We went to the theater to do a dictation (guaranteed flawless article)

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