24 of the best words in the French language
The Earful Tower: Paris
Oliver Gee
4.8 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2017
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What's your favourite word? We asked 24 listeners, past guests, and even each other for the "best" French word in existence. From dragonflies to hardware shops, here's the full list from the show, as well as a few links to check out the blogs and pages we mentioned.
Check your spelling here:
1. Pamplemousse (grapefruit), says Veronique who runs French Girl in Seattle. "It appeals to all my senses: I love the way the word sounds, the taste, and the appearance of a grapefruit… and I love the very distinctive scent," she says.
2. Bof (a disinterested sound people make), says tour guide Corey Frye. "The three most important letters in French," he says. Hear his top tip for each Paris arrondissement here.
3. En fait (actually)."You just chuck it on the end of everything and it works," says Matt from movie masters in Paris Lost in Frenchlation.
4. Formidable (excellent):"It has a finesse to it, and makes me think of the Stromae song," says author Lindsey Tramuta, whose book The New Paris hits shelves worldwide on April 18th.
5. Menilmontant, a place in Paris that means a lot to Samuel Barrantes of Slim and the Beast (hear him in the pilot episode here). Here's the song he was talking about.
6. Rabibocher, meaning "to get together" especially after a break-up, says listener Carolyn.
7. Aspirateur, meaning vacuum, "It just sounds so much more interesting than vacuum", says listener Shelly
8. Couilles, says comedian Paul Taylor. This word means "balls" (as in testicles). Why does Paul like the word? "Because no anglophone can pronounce it properly," he says. No surprises that Paul likes a good swear word – his TV show is called What the Fuck France? (We had him in the studio too for a warm beer and a chat).
9. Merde (meaning shit), says author Stephen Clarke. Stephen's numerous novels have the word merde (shit) in the title, so it's no surprise he likes this word. We had Stephen on the Earful too to talk about the French. Here's his episode.
10. Vachement, meaning really really, says writer Lisa Anselmo. "In France, a country famous for its cheese, it's not terribly surprising a word like "cowly" would creep in," she says. Listen to her full episode on the Earful here.
11. Trottoir (footpath), says Kate Goodbody, who runs the More Native than the Natives blog (and who just won our giveaway on Facebook for a signed Stephen Clarke book). "I love the idea of people trotting down the street," she says.
12. Papillon, says regular listener Dingo Mike. "It means butterfly and bow-tie, two beautiful things and a beautiful word," he says.
13. Pompette, a pleasant word for "tipsy", says lovely Lina. "It sounds like the name of a poodle."
14. Rouflaquettes, meaning "sideburns", says Sam Davies, though the jury is still out on if this is a real word. Sam was also on the Earful, getting creative with language.
15. Libellule, says Jennifer who writes the blog Chez Loulou. "For the fact that I love dragonflies and it's a great word to say," she says.
16. Truc, meaning "thing", says Gail of PerfectlyParis. "It covers everything, it's vague, indirect and can refer to anything." Isabelle in Sweden adds: "Best word ever for someone who wants to believe she sounds more French than she does."
17. Grenouille (frog), says Coutume cafe's Tom Clark. "If you can pronounce it, you can speak French." Hear his episode on the Earful here.
18. Dégueulasse (disgusting), says Ben McPartland, the editor of The Local France. "Sounds like a character from Lord of the Rings," he says.
19. Ancre/Encre (anchor/ink), says Breton sailor Fabien. The words both mean a lot to me, he says, literature and travel.
20. Quincaillerie, a hardware shop, says Joey Yanity on Facebook. "It's pretty fun to say." We agree!
21. Flâneur, an aimless walker, says Tami Tamir-Shaughnessey. "It's my favourite thing to do in Paris."
22. Déchetterie (a dump, a tip), says Jim Carmichael. "I like the way it rolls off the tongue," he says.
23. Croutte, says producer James. "It's actually my least favourite French word, it means crust and scab. Revolting."
24. Inoubliable (unforgettable), says host Oliver. "I like the sound of the word, it sounds like a foreigner imitating a French person…"
If you want to see more like this, then join our Facebook followers here. Click the link below to hear the full episode of this list.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Earful Tower with Oliver G |
| 0:03.0 | Hearful Tower listeners, if you've never heard this show before, this is a 30-minute journey down the road of figuring out France, usually with a special guest each week, and in the past we've had TV presenters and tour guides, comedians and cooks. |
| 0:18.0 | Last week we even had a mayor of Paris but this week we don't |
| 0:21.2 | have a special guest. We have 24. Yes, we've asked past guests and listeners of |
| 0:26.9 | the show to tell us their favorite French word and to explain themselves and |
| 0:30.8 | because it's a special episode, a list form, I've given James Vazina the producer |
| 0:35.0 | free reign to use as many sound effects as he wants, |
| 0:38.3 | even though they've been previously banned from the show. |
| 0:40.3 | Oh my god. |
| 0:42.3 | Hi, Ollie. |
| 0:43.3 | Hi James, here we go for the 24 favorite French words. |
| 0:47.3 | Starting with number one. |
| 0:48.3 | Pomplemus. |
| 0:49.3 | Pomplemuse. |
| 0:50.3 | Pomplemuse. |
| 0:51.3 | This one's from Veronique, who runs French Girl in Seattle. |
| 0:55.0 | A blog, a Facebook page, brilliant Facebook page. |
| 0:58.5 | She says about this word, |
| 1:00.3 | it appeals to all my senses. |
| 1:02.1 | I love the way the word sounds. |
| 1:03.4 | I love the taste and appearance of grapefruit in the morning, |
| 1:05.8 | fruit or juice, that is. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Oliver Gee, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Oliver Gee and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

