French words in English

There have been French words in English since the time of Chaucer. For example, he imported those that end in -sion or -tion (though he often also put -cion or -cioun). More recent additions are ménû, machìne (-sh-), façàde (*fəssàd), crèpe and elìte (the accents show stress and pronunciation, see English phonemes). English more-or-less French pronunciation is typified by the proper names *Cítron, *Përzho and *Rénno for Cítroen, Pëugeot and Rénault. Pronouncing French words too Frenchly sounds pretentious in an English context. Why say Stephàne Grapellỳ when it is so much easier to say *Stéfən Grəpélly? Boulougne (*Bəlŏin, as opposed to French Bûlónyə) and Páris (with s sounded) have anglicised pronunciations, as do the painters Dègàs (*Dâygà for *Dəgá - the name was originally de Gas) and Rénoir (*Rénwà instead of *Rənwàr - the anglicised pronunciations are of course spurned by those anglophones who have learnt French, but even they would not normally in an English context pronounce the final r in Renoir); by contrast the more recently famous Nigér has a French-style pronunciation, *Nìzhãir - in contrast to Nigêria (*Nîjêria).

But many more French words and phrases are less assimilated than those above, and they are often written, like other foreign words, in italics. They can retain their written French accents in (especially British) English. None of these accents should be regarded as compulsory in English, but they are often used.

List of French words

The accents in the pronunciation column show stress and pronunciation (see English phonemes).

Spelling, French accents optional	Pronunciation
à deux	*à-də
à la mode	*àlà-môde
blasé	*blàzây
bête noire	*bét-nwà
café	cáfè
canapé	cánapè
cause célèbre	*côze-celébrə
Cítroën ™	*Sítrən
confrère	cónfrére
crème	créme
crèpe	crèpe
cliché	*clìshây (AmE stresses 2nd syllable)
clientèle	*cleeontél
compère	cómpére host, cf. compãre contrast
coup de théâtre	*coôdətay-átrə
coupé	coûpè
cortège	*cŏr-tèzh
debâcle	debàcle
débris	BrE *débrêe or dèbrêe, AmE dəbrêe
début	*dèbyû or *débyû
déclassé	declássè
déjà vu	*dèzhà-vû
éclair	eclãir
éclat	*è-clà
élan	*è-làn
émigré	émigrè
en fête	*ón-fét
engagé	*ongázhây
entrée	*óntrây
exposé	*expôzây, cf. expôse
fête garden	= fâte destiny
fiancé man, fiancée woman	*fì-ànsây	} Notes See also Spelling pronunciation Letter (alphabet) Alphabet Writing system Orthography Written language Writing