French Phrases used in English

Can you guess these French words and phrases that are used in the English-speaking world?

Quiz by

Featured Quiz

Rate:

Last updated: December 16, 2019

You have not attempted this quiz yet.

More quiz info >>

First submitted	May 24, 2011
Times taken	46,641
Average score	50.0%
Rating	4.16

Quiz and answer stats >>

Shared scores >>

5:00

Enter word or phrase here:

/ 22 guessed

The quiz is paused. You have remaining.

Copied!

Scoring

You scored / = %

This beats or equals % of test takers also scored 100%

The average score is

Your high score is

Your fastest time is

more stats >>

shared scores >>

Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...

Clue

Answer

"Enjoy your meal!"

Bon appétit

Limo driver

Chauffeur

Snails as food

Escargot

Young woman introduced to society for the first time

Débutante

The illusion of having experienced the same thing before

Déjà vu

The wealthier class of commoners

Bourgeoisie

Dead-end of a street

Cul-de-sac

Goose liver

Foie gras

On the contrary

Au contraire

The newly rich

Nouveau riche

The joy of life

Joie de vivre

Artistic vanguard

Avant-garde

A shared purpose of comradeship (especially among military troops)

Esprit de corps

Thawing of political tensions, such as in the Cold War

Détente

Military overthrow of the government

Coup d'état

"Hands-off" system of government

Laissez-faire

Refers to separately-priced menu items

À la carte

Dangerously charming woman

Femme fatale

Lacking in social graces; Literally "left"

Gauche

Wine steward

Sommelier

A fancy shindig

Soirée

Appetizer

Hors d'œuvre

Save Your Stats

Your Next Quiz

Compound Words #2

Can you guess these compound words based on a definition?

English Words of Italian Origin

Not just coffee and pasta.

Top Arms Exporting Countries

Try to name the countries that have exported the most weapons in the last 10 years.

The Great Vocabulary Letter Heist

For each definition, select the correct word from the four optio.. STOP THIEF! A thief has stolen one letter from each correct answer, making it harder for you to spot!

54 Comments

Level 59

Jun 19, 2014

Rapprochement could also work for Detente: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rapprochement

I also tried aperitif for appetizer although it specifically refers to wine served as an appetizer.

Level ∞

Jun 19, 2014

Yes, except that it was specifically referred to as détente during the Cold War.

Level 49

Jun 20, 2014

Yes, I tried rapprochement too.

Level 85

Jun 19, 2014

12/22 I would have had 5 more if I could figure out how to spell things in French.

Level 24

Jun 20, 2014

Knew all but one. Couldn't spell most of them.

Level 80

Jun 21, 2014

Yes - got 22 out of 22 with 1:38 left on the clock, thank you for being forgiving of slight spelling errors on this one!

Level 48

Jun 22, 2014

It should be laisser-faire, not laissez-faire which addresses the 2nd person.

Level 36

Sep 27, 2019

It is definitely Laissez-faire in French.

Level 86

Oct 12, 2020

Do your homework before "correcting" people. It is laissez-faire.

Level 82

Mar 31, 2015

An hors d'oeuvre is not an appetizer, it's something served with the apéritif. The French word for an appetizer is entrée, and the English for the course served before the main dish is appetizer. Also, if you're going to say "the" newly rich, which implies plural, the French should be nouveaux-riches.

Level ∞

Apr 1, 2015

This quiz isn't about proper French grammar. It's about the way the phrases are used in English.

Level 73

Oct 18, 2016

There may be a limit to the way the phrases are used in English. I still laugh when I remember overhearing a man at a wedding reception ask a server if there were any more "horse doovers".

Level 70

Feb 6, 2020

I am English and I spelt it nouveaux riches.

Level 86

Oct 12, 2020

In that case Fad, you are spelling it wrongly.

Level 83

Jan 26, 2023

In that vein I thought that canape or amuse bouche would have been more appropriate

Level 86

Oct 4, 2016

you're lucky "entrée" is not on the list

Level 86

Oct 12, 2020

dasubergeek, you are wrong with pretty much all of what you have said there.

Level 33

Apr 21, 2015

Finally a word quiz that's not biased towards US players. More please! Only missed two and would have got those if the clues had been better. "Laissez faire" doesn't only apply to government, and "shindig" definitely bears no relation to a soirée.

Level 76

Jan 14, 2019

How is it not? Unless you mean Us opposed to Uk. Because for non english speaking (native) people it is still hard. Most of these terms arent used in other countries.

PS not a complaint, but just pointing out that this quiz (obviously) is still in favour of englishspeaking countries.

I think we only have: chauffeur ( but we use it as driver in general like in busdriver it is bus chauffeur) dejavu, alacarte (but mainly in french restaurants so not sure if that counts..) femme fatale, though I havent really heard anyone say it. I think it saw it written somewhere once though. And I guess some say bon appetit.

Level 70

Feb 6, 2020

And again there is no way I would have called a 'shindig' a 'soiree'

Level 54

Sep 16, 2015

How about "coquette" for "a dangerously charming woman"? I guess a coquette isn't quite as dangerous...

Level 36

May 22, 2017

a Cquette would be a flirt, n'est pas? Not a femme fatale, which conjures up something far more serious in my mind. Same goes for Entrée. It literally means begin with or or first, which would not translate into the main course, even in English.

Level 57

Dec 16, 2016

why is there a picture of charles de gualle?

Level 45

Dec 16, 2016

My spelling is awful. Foie Gras!

Level 55

Jul 4, 2020

I had to look up the spelling - I thought it was fois gras.

Level 71

Jan 23, 2017

you could add double entendre and rendez-vous

Level 74

Sep 5, 2020

and 'bra'

Level 73

Aug 30, 2017

I know a lot of allowances have been made, but do you think you could loosen the spelling just a little more? Like for newly rich, took me a while

Level 74

Sep 5, 2020

They're French words - maybe don't go for quizzes with French words if you can't spell French words... (french words)

Level 79

Sep 6, 2017

The French are horrible spellers

Level 74

Nov 27, 2023

Cry

Level 35

Jan 20, 2018

I kept putting in Petite Bourgeois, but it wasn't working.

The clue made it seem like they were richer than bourgeois

Level 90

Jan 26, 2024

The bourgeoisie are richer than the petite bourgeoisie. Petite ("little") bourgeoisie would be like someone who owns and runs a single restaurant, whereas true bourgeoisie would be like someone who owns a chain of restaurants that are run for them by managers or franchisees.

Level 81

Apr 17, 2018

Is anyone else having a déjà vu regarding not one French person you meet understanding what déjà vu means?

Level 18

Apr 26, 2018

can you add col de sac for cul de sac?

Level 61

Jun 14, 2018

anders, surely a cotillion is a dance??

Level 61

Aug 31, 2018

I didn't even know what a shindig was... I thought it was an offence aimed at someone, like a kick in the shins :)

Level 36

Oct 10, 2018

^ LOL! You're absolutely right! - It's a misnomer in any event. My first thought when seeing "Shindig" was "Fete". A soiree conjures something much more formal.

Level 68

Dec 13, 2021

Fete is accepted now - it was my first thought also.

Level 61

Nov 11, 2025

I did actually put fete, but it's even further from being a fancy shindig than soirée is. Fete in English means the outdoor thing with lots of stalls and games and stuff, really not very fancy at all in the main, and I don't know that it's a shindig either

Level 76

Jan 14, 2019

I thought it was a "house" like welcome to my shack, welcome to my shindig. I guess i thought that since there is an overlap. the party is at the house. ANd cool shindig when someone arrives at a party, when you dont know it he could ve meant nice place.

Level 55

Jul 4, 2020

It would be nice if amuse-bouche, canape, or apertif worked for "appetizer".

Level 74

Sep 5, 2020

I tried amuse bouche too

Level 74

Sep 5, 2020

Grr I was left with so many hanging e's in this quiz...!

Level 86

Oct 12, 2020

Thanks QM, it is a good, light-hearted fun quiz.

Level 60

Nov 28, 2020

I think dead end of a street should be changed to circlular dead end of a street

Level 71

Feb 7, 2021

It's almost like the French have a different word for everything.

Level 79

Jun 8, 2022

Hors d'œuvre is literally impossible to spell even remotely correctly

Level 45

Jul 2, 2022

it should accept "la joie de vivre" for the joy of life instead of only joie de vivre because of the word "the"

Level 66

May 30, 2023

I know it's not how the word is used in the US, but could entrée be an acceptable answer for appetizer?

It's what came to mind first for me (Irish and British native English speaker), and once that was in my head it was more difficult to think of a different answer. In my experience, entrée is often used as another word for starter or appetizer in the UK or Ireland.

Level 80

Dec 10, 2023

This quiz has a certain, as the French say, "I don't know what."

Level 82

Jun 7, 2024

Maybe an idea for an additional word: rendezvous

Level 73

Jul 31, 2025

i tried "amuse-bouche" for appetizer

Level 74

Aug 29, 2025

"Foie gras" doesn't refer specifically to goose liver, it can be and often is duck's; likewise, goose liver isn't necessarily foie gras. It's "fatty liver".

This was one of the most irritating quiz for accepting truncations I've taken! So many letters running into the next answer. Yet not "femme fatal" for some reason.