Words, words and more words: French dictionary adds 150 new words • FRANCE 24 English

Words, words and more words: French dictionary adds 150 new words • FRANCE 24 English

we’re going to take a moment now to take
a closer look at the French language and
how it’s evolving one of top France’s
top selling dictionaries Leu larus has
published new words that is adding to
its dictionary this year to tell us more
about them and this tradition I’m joined
on set by Solange mjan Solange hi hi
oliv so the annual publishing of this
list these new words is quite an event
here in France yeah people in France are
in my view quite attached to their
dictionaries and of course to their
language
there’s even a bit of poking fun among
some people about whether you’re a puy
or a puus person uh two of the major
brands of dictionaries now while paper
dictionaries are for some a thing of the
past the love of words is not and every
year in France when met major Publishers
of these dictionaries uh and the
nation’s Watchdog of the French language
where they come out with their new words
it creates quite a bit of Buzz be it for
the the the academy Fran or now as for
how do they do it well uh said that it
took some 5,000 words and whittel that
list down to
150 uh with the criteria of whether the
word is used both in spoken and also in
written French if all generations use
the term so young people and old people
alike whether the word is likely to have
a future and also if the word expresses
a new movement an innovation or a
societal phenomenon now lus again is not
the only dictionary to do this L its
major competitor is coming out with its
own list next month regardless of the
publisher uh sometimes the choices
create some controversy like in 2021
when L added yel or it’s a combination
of and L uh he or she as a pronoun to
describe non-gender individuals oh yeah
I can imagine quite controversial well
get let’s get into that list then what
were the terms included this year I hear
that there was a bit of a focus on
Sports yeah with the Olympics just
around the corner there are a number of
uh Sports terms that were added
including ult the longdistance running
competitions Bist is someone who plays
badminton tost someone who pushes
Scooters or tets and skate park a place
where you skateboard now as for this
Anglo term lus recommends French
Alternatives as well such
as or Park ACH personally I’ve never
heard of these words but Franco vergins
are part of a longer and longer push uh
to make sure that English words do not
take over uh lus says that they are
mindful of this trying to stick to some
8% of English words used okay well I
haven’t heard them but then maybe that’s
because I’m not such a huge Sports
Enthusiast there also a number of
environmental terms some famous people
there too yeah uh language is constantly
evolving uh it is a reflection of our
society and how it’s changing take for
example climate crisis here lus has
added a number of words like agoi or
pesticides P or forever chemicals Mega
best scenes water reservoirs uh for
agriculture they also there’s also fast
fashion uh or fast fashion uh that’s
been added and on a positive front there
are terms like echo or a gesture to help
the planet and zish or no waste now on
top of these new words the dictionary
has also a list of famous people that it
adds to every year and surprisingly some
of the pretty obvious ones uh were not
on Lois’s list yet such as the singers
Beyonce and the French star milen farmer
they’ve added also this year actor Omari
and footballer Antoine grizzman and
Iranian journalist NES mohamedi they
were also added but but when you add you
also have to remove the dictionary says
that they actually do a major cleanout
every 10 to 20 years uh for the words
that are no longer relevant such as
miniel East uh this is someone who uses
the miniel or the French precursor to
the web which of course no longer exists
ah rip mini well Bon say must be feeling
very relieved thank you so much Solange
for that

The French language is one of the prides and joys of the French people. So, when the major French dictionaries add new words it creates quite a dictionnabuzz. Le Petit Larousse has added 150 words to its 2025 edition and some of its choices are surprising. FRANCE 24’s Solange Mougin tells us more.
#French #dictionary #language

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