French Slang for Texting, Everyday Speech and Regional Terms

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French slang is not one fixed list. A word that feels ordinary in Paris may sound marked, dated or unfamiliar in Montréal, Abidjan or Kinshasa. Age, relationship and setting matter too.

That is why the safest goal is recognition first. Learn what a term means, where you heard it and how strong it is before you try it yourself. A familiar word between friends can be rude in a shop, awkward at work or deeply offensive when aimed at a stranger.

This guide separates texting, familiar everyday French, regional vocabulary, insults and swear words. Labels such as “France” or “Quebec” point to common associations, not hard borders. Usage varies within every region.

Warning: later sections contain uncensored insults and swear words. They are included so you can recognise them, not as a recommendation to use them.

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SMS Messages: French Text Slang

French messages use abbreviations, sound-based spellings and initialisms, but there is no universal texting code. Autocorrect, voice notes and personal habits all affect what people write.

These are useful forms to recognise:

• slt: salut (“hi”)
• bjr: bonjour (“hello”)
• stp: s’il te plaît (“please”, informal singular)
• svp: s’il vous plaît (“please”, formal or plural)
• bcp: beaucoup (“a lot”)
• pq or pk: pourquoi (“why”)
• qqn: quelqu’un (“someone”)
• rdv: rendez-vous (“appointment” or “meeting”)
• A+: à plus (“see you”)
• mdr: mort de rire (“laughing out loud”)
• jtm: je t’aime (“I love you”)
• tkt: t’inquiète (“don’t worry”)

Match the other person’s style. If they write complete sentences, answering with a wall of abbreviations can feel abrupt rather than fluent.

Everyday French Slang

Not every informal word is slang. Some items below are familiar vocabulary, while others are regional standards or socially marked slang. That distinction matters more than the label on a vocabulary list.

Widely Understood Familiar French

• bouffer: to eat, very informal
• bosser: to work, familiar and especially associated with France
• un truc: a thing, a thingamajig or a trick
• une arnaque: a scam or rip-off
• piquer: to pinch or steal something, among its other meanings
• draguer quelqu’un: to flirt with or hit on someone
• le fric: money, informal and especially associated with France

Familiar Slang Common in France

• un mec or un type: a guy
• une meuf: a woman or girlfriend; verlan and familiar, sometimes dismissive
• une bagnole: a car
• le taf: work or a job
• relou: annoying; verlan of lourd
• ouf: crazy or amazing, depending on context; verlan of fou
• nickel: perfect, spotless or all sorted
• c’est nul: it’s rubbish or it sucks
• se barrer: to leave or clear off, very informal
• gerber: to vomit, vulgar or very informal

Verlan forms can carry age and social signals. Recognising meuf or relou does not mean either word will suit every speaker or situation.

Familiar and Regional French in Quebec

• un gars: a guy
• un char: a car
• une blonde: a girlfriend or female partner, regardless of hair colour
• un chum: a boyfriend or male partner; it can also mean a male friend
• niaiseux / niaiseuse: silly or stupid
• une piastre, often pronounced piasse: a dollar or buck
• les bas: socks; ordinary regional vocabulary rather than a swear or youth term
• un dépanneur: a convenience shop; a standard Quebec regional term

For more on pronunciation and everyday usage, see our guide to French in Quebec.

Nouchi and Familiar French in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Abidjan’s multilingual urban speech includes Nouchi, which draws on French and several Ivorian languages. These are local, mobile terms rather than “African French” for an entire continent:

• une go: a young woman or girlfriend; it can sound objectifying in the wrong context
• un môgô: a person or guy in Nouchi
• s’enjailler: to enjoy yourself or have fun
• un maquis: a casual bar or restaurant in Ivorian usage

Meanings and popularity move quickly. If you are learning through Ivorian friends or media, note the speaker, year and situation with the word.

French and Lingala Mixes in Kinshasa, DR Congo

French in Kinshasa often appears alongside Lingala. A mixed expression is not automatically slang or standard French, so preserve the local context:

• merci mingi: “thank you very much”, combining French merci with Lingala mingi (“a lot”)
• un zibolateur: a locally coined word for a bottle opener
• cadavéré: broken down or dead, a playful formation related to cadavre

Treat these as recognition examples from Kinshasa, not as phrases to carry into every French-speaking country.

French Slang Insults

As an Irishman, I can hear gobshite as friendly banter from a close friend and as an insult from someone else. French insults work the same way: relationship, tone and power matter.

Recognition is useful. Experimenting on strangers is not. Several terms below are vulgar, sexist or dehumanising.

Insults Commonly Heard in France

• bête: silly or stupid; often milder than the items below
• con / conne: idiot or stupid person; common but insulting
• connard / connasse: a stronger vulgar insult
• un beauf: a pejorative stereotype of a narrow-minded, uncultured or tacky man
• salope: a strong, gendered slur aimed at a woman
• pute or putain aimed at a person: a sexualised slur
• fils de pute: a severe insult involving someone’s mother

Insults Heard in Quebec

• cave: an idiot or fool in familiar Quebec usage
• épais / épaisse: literally “thick”, used for someone seen as stupid
• niaiseux / niaiseuse: silly or stupid; strength depends on tone
• mononcle / matante: ordinary family words that can become dismissive stereotypes for an out-of-touch man or woman

French Swear Words

Swear words do not line up neatly across languages. An English gloss gives you the rough force, not permission to use the French word in every place you would use its translation.

Swear Words Common in France

• merde: “shit”; in theatre, saying merde can also wish a performer good luck
• putain: a vulgar, flexible interjection similar to “damn”, “shit” or a stronger English swear depending on tone
• bordel: literally “brothel”, also a vulgar exclamation or a word for a complete mess
• je m’en fous: “I don’t care” or “I don’t give a damn”; je m’en fiche is milder
• dégage: “get out” or “get lost”, direct and hostile when aimed at someone
• ferme ta gueule: an aggressive “shut the fuck up”
• la vache: a much milder exclamation of surprise or frustration

Quebec Swear Words: Sacres

Many Quebec sacres come from Catholic religious vocabulary. Informal spellings vary, and speakers can chain words together to increase the force.

• osti / hostie: derived from the communion host
• câlice / câlisse: derived from “chalice”
• tabarnak: derived from “tabernacle” and generally strong
• crisse: derived from “Christ”
• sacrament: derived from “sacrament”
• tabarouette / tabarnouche: milder euphemistic alternatives related to tabarnak

There is no reliable one-word English equivalent for each sacre. Listen to intensity, repetition and who is present.

French Slang Phrases

Some useful informal expressions are not slang word by word. Learn the whole phrase and its setting.

Familiar Phrases Common in France

• T’inquiète.: “Don’t worry.” Very familiar; use Ne vous inquiétez pas when respectful distance is needed.
• T’en fais pas.: “Don’t worry about it.”
• Laisse tomber.: “Forget it” or “drop it.”
• J’en ai marre.: “I’m fed up.”
• Ça me saoule.: “That annoys me” or “I’m sick of it.” Familiar and stronger than a neutral complaint.
• Ça marche.: “That works” or “Okay, agreed.”
• C’est n’importe quoi.: “That’s nonsense” or “This is ridiculous.”
• Il veut ma peau.: literally “He wants my skin”; “He’s out to get me.”

The last example matters: vouloir la peau de quelqu’un means wanting that person’s ruin or death. Avoir la peau de quelqu’un describes succeeding in bringing about that ruin, so the two expressions are not interchangeable.

For expressions that are idiomatic rather than slang, see our French idioms guide.

Familiar Phrases in Quebec

• avoir de la misère à + infinitive: to have difficulty doing something
• avoir la chienne: to be terrified
• pas pire: “not bad”, including as an answer to Ça va ?
• c’est plate: it’s boring, disappointing or unfortunate, depending on context
• jaser: to chat or have a talk; familiar regional vocabulary

Regional French Vocabulary

Regional vocabulary is not “bad French”, and it is not always slang. These examples show why you should record where you heard a word instead of treating one national variety as the default.

A Pencil

• un crayon à papier: common in many parts of France
• un crayon de bois: a common regional alternative
• un crayon gris: another regional term for a graphite pencil

A Pen

• un stylo: the broadly understood standard word
• un Bic: a brand name often used informally for a ballpoint pen
• un crayon: can refer more broadly to a writing instrument in some Quebec contexts, so ask if the distinction matters

A Chocolate Pastry

• un pain au chocolat: dominant in much of France
• une chocolatine: strongly associated with southwestern France and also used in Quebec
• un petit pain au chocolat: found in parts of Belgium and northern or eastern France; petit pain alone can name other bread products elsewhere

A Shopping Bag

• un sac or un sac en plastique: broadly understood
• une poche: used for a bag in parts of southwestern France
• un pochon: a regional term in parts of western and central France
• un cornet: used for a bag in Switzerland and some neighbouring areas

A Restaurant Bill

• l’addition: the usual restaurant word in France
• la facture: common for the restaurant bill in Quebec; elsewhere it often means an invoice

Shoes

• les chaussures: broadly understood for shoes
• les baskets: trainers or sneakers in France
• les espadrilles: trainers or sneakers in Quebec; in France, espadrilles are a different type of light canvas shoe
• les souliers: an ordinary word for shoes in Quebec and some other regions, but old-fashioned or literary to many speakers in France

To learn slang safely, save the full line where you heard it and add four labels: region, speaker relationship, register and situation. Check the meaning with a speaker from that variety, then practise recognising it before producing it.

Start with low-risk phrases such as Ça marche, T’inquiète and pas pire. Leave slurs and strong swear words in your recognition vocabulary unless a trusted speaker explains the local context.

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