Missing words in French

[Maciamo]

All languages have their particularities. Each language evolves along with its culture and environment. That's why some cultural expressions are untranslatable in languages of very different cultures (e.g. the Japanese politeness system has no equivalent in English).

What I don't understand is how everyday words which once existed in a language could simply disappear after a few centuries. This seems to have occured a lot in French. Indeed, many words with Latin roots found in English and Italian can't be found in French. Here is a short list of those springing to mind.

English / Italian / French

- convenient / conveniente / --- (strange as "inconvenient" does exist in French)

- conspicuous / cospicuo / --- (from Latin conspicuus)

- casual / casuale / --- (note that the meaning of the English, the Italian and the original Latin word casualis are all different. However, the word "casuel" just doesn't exist in French, whatever its meaning).

- mere / mero / --- (the only translation is "simple", which also exist in English and Italian)

- occur / occorere / --- (likewise, two different meanings, but derived from the common Latin root occurrere)

- portentous / portentoso / --- (granted, not a very common word)

[Maciamo]

There are about 7 times more words in the English language than in French (500,000 against 70,000). Naturally, most people know between 15,000 and 30,000 words, and even good writers rarely know more than 50,000 (in the same language).

Languages with less different words will usually have more meanings per word though, to compensate. The drawback with words having a too broad meaning or too many completely different meanings is that the language becomes ambiguous.

Japanese is a notorious language that in which 5 or 10 words can sound the same phonetically. As the Hiragana and Katakana syllabary are phonetic, the Japanese use Chinese characters to distinguish the meanings in writing.

French language also has numerous homophones (e.g. vert, vers, ver, verre, vair) because of the silent last consonant and the different ways to write the same vowel sound. Spelling is the key to distinguishing meanings in French. However, like for Chinese characters in Japanese, this only works in writing, leaving oral language ambiguous.

Being bilingual in French and English, I have often had arguments about which of the two languages was "better". It has long been clear to me that English is richer, more flexible, more nuanced and less ambiguous than French. It goes without saying that most of the native French speakers to whom I make this claim quickly deny it, or ask me for "proofs". Therefore, I thought of making a list illustrating how English typically has several words, with a different spelling and pronunciation, when French only had one word.

For example, English has 3 words derived from the same Latin root for the French horrible : horrible, horrific, horrendous, each with a slightly different meaning and usage. You could say that "horrific" is closer to atroce in French. But then English also has "atrocious".

Another interesting example is how English has developed different adjectives depending on the connotation, so that the French terrible translates either "terrible" (negative) or" terrific" (positive). The English language has an abundance of near synonyms with different connotations, usages or levels of formality that few languages have.

I will start slowly with just a handful of examples that spring to mind. Such a list could have tens of thousands of entries.

The words in bold are in French.

- excuse : excuse, apology => French language does not make the difference between excuse and apology, so for a French speaker it would not make sense to say that someone expect an apology rather than an excuse for something (or the other way around).

- consommation : consummation, consumption => both mean the act of consummating, but the latter is used specifically for marriage (meaning "having sex", quite different from the consumption of a product).

- intimité : privacy, intimacy => "privacy" means being away from the observation of others to avoid disturbance (usually alone) ; "intimacy" means being very close to someone.

- domestiquer : domesticate, tame => you can tame a lion, but not domesticate it.

- critique : criticism (general usage, usually negative), critic (literary), critique (person who does a critic)

- judiciaire : judicial (decision, general), judiciary (system)

- jugement : judgement (general), adjudication (legal)

- annuler : cancel, annul, nullify, rescind, void, overrule...
=> French did not inherit the Latin words cancel (cancellare in Italian) and rescind (rescindere in Italian). The words nullify and void are derived from (medieval) French but don't exist in modern French.


In some cases English has so many near synonyms lacking in French that I won't try to explain all the nuances. I have removed the words from the thesaurus that had a French equivalent (e.g. to spy = épier)

- regarder : look, watch, behold, regard, view, gape, gawk, gaze, glare, glance, glimpse, goggle, peek, peep, peer, rubberneck, stare, etc.

- marcher : walk, pace, march, tramp, trek, hike, troop, stomp, tiptoe, crawl, trespass, swagger, lumber, lurch, pound, shamble, shuffle, stagger, mince, strut, etc.

- se promener : amble, stroll, saunter, promenade

- escalader : scale, escalade, climb (up), clamber (up), scramble (up)

- effacer : delete, erase, rub out, efface, clear, wipe...

- fou : crazy, mad, foolish, insane, lunatic, etc.

- faux : wrong, mistaken, false

- capacité : capacity, capability, ability, skills

- fil : string, thread, wire, yarn...


Words that have the same root or had the same original meaning can now have quite or completely different meanings. French usually kept one word, whereas English has developed another word from the same root, or used both the Germanic and Latin words to differentiate them.

- garder : keep ; wake, ward, guard

- arrêter : stop, quit, arrest

- politique : politics, policy (n.) // political, politic (adj.)

- antenne : aerial, antenna

- blanc : white, blank

- route : road, route

- prix : rate, price, prize

- régime : diet, regime, regimen

- testament : will, testament, legacy

- plume : feather, plume, pen

- queue : tail, queue, cue

- essai : try, trial, probe, essay

- expérience : experience, experiment, experimentation

- trésor : treasure, treasury, trove, hoard

- voyage : travel, trip, voyage

- vue : eyesight, sight, view

- bureau : desk, office, bureau

- histoire : tale, story, history

- jeter : throw, throw away, dispose ; hurl ; cast ; jettison

- fort : strong, forcible, forceful

- informateur : informant, informer

- sensuel : sensual, sensuous, sultry

Some words basically mean the same, but have a different usage. You could say "give money to charity", but the proper usage is "donate". Likewise, the usage is to say that a poem is profound, but a lake is deep.

- nourrir : feed, nourish

- donner : give, donate

- réponse : answer, response, reply

- proposition : proposition, proposal

- profond : deep, profound

- cru : raw, crude

- humain (adj.) : human, humane

- enfant : child, kid, infant, toddler

- adolescent : adolescent, teenager, teen

- adulte : adult, grown-up

- mariage : wedding, marriage

- marié(e) : bride, groom

- président : chairman, president

- propriétaire : owner, proprietor, landlord/landlady, landowner, renter, householder

- frontière : border, boundary, frontier

- zero : zero, naught, nought, nil, love

- vrai, veritable : true, truthful, veritable, genuine

- fidelité : faithfulness, fidelity

- bouger : move, budge

- merveilleux : wonderful, wondrous, marvellous

- amoureux : in love, enamoured, amorous

- coeur : heart, core

- tristesse : sorrow, sadness

- seul : only, sole, alone, lone, lonely

- entier : whole, entire

- complet : full, complete

- faible : weak, feeble

- maison : house, home

- habitation : dwelling, habitation

- logement : accommodation, housing, lodging

- habitat : housing, habitat

- précoce : early, precocious

- tardif : late, belated, tardy, tardive

Some words have the same meaning and usage, but carry a different connotation :

- caprice : whim (neutral), caprice (negative)

- tiède : lukewarm (neutral), tepid (negative)

- solitude : solitude (positive, neutral), loneliness (negative)

Other words express a nuance in size or intensity :

- chaud : warm, hot

- frais : cool, fresh

- ville : town, city


English tends to differentiate animal species more accurately than French, for example based on whether they have a tail or not, whether they are land/sea animals, or whether they are diurnal or nocturnal.

- singe : monkey, ape

- tortue : tortoise, turtle

- papillon : butterfly, moth


Sometimes the extra English word adds little or no nuance. In that case the word coming from French is just more formal (usually).

- aider : help, aid

- liberté : freedom, liberty

- dentifrice: toothpaste, dentifrice

- intestin : bowel, gut, intestine

- somnolence : drowsiness, somnolence

- probable : likely, probable

- incroyable : unbelievable, incredible, amazing

- lisible : readable, legible

- potable : drinkable, drinking, potable

- comestible : eatable, edible, comestible

- sombre : dark, sombre

- morose : gloomy, morose

- sinistre : bleak, dreary, sinister

- magistral : masterly, magisterial

- menace : threat, menace

- arme : weapon, arm

- paternité : fatherhood, paternity

- maternité : motherhood, maternity

- fraternité : brotherhood, fraternity

- amitié : friendship, amity

- maladie : disease, illness, malady

- respirer : breath, respire

- transpirer : sweat, perspire

- répit : break, time-out, respite

- infatigable : tireless, untiring, indefatigable

- interminable : endless, interminable

English words with no single-word French equivalent

- healthy : en bonne santé

- cheap : bon marché

- shallow : peu profond

- both/either : les deux/l'un ou l'autre

- hound : chien de chasse

- to befriend : se lier d'amitié avec, prendre [qn] sous son aile

- to hug : serrer [qn] dans ses bras

[Maciamo]

This thread is being updated frequently.

See also the analysis the other way round : French words missing in English