Quebec French lexicon
There are various lexical differences between Quebec French and Metropolitan French in France. These are distributed throughout the registers, from slang to formal usage.
Notwithstanding Acadian French in the Maritime Provinces, Quebec French is the dominant form of French throughout Canada, with only very limited interregional variations. The terms Quebec French and Canadian French are therefore often used interchangeably.
Standardization
The Office québécois de la langue française believes that neither morphology nor syntax should be different between Québécois and Metropolitan French, and even that phonetic differences should be kept to a minimum. However, starting in the 1960s, it agreed to the use of words then called "well-formed Canadianisms ," that either are regional in nature, have been used since before the Conquest, or are justified in their origin and are considered to be equivalent or "better" than the standard equivalent.A very small list of words was published in 1969, mainly containing words that were archaic in France, but still common in Quebec. This list especially contained imperial units and words from aboriginal languages. Subsequent lists have been published regularly since then.
Many differences that exist between Quebec French and European French arise from the preservation of certain forms that are today archaic in Europe. New words were also created for Quebec specialties that do not exist in Europe.
As with any two regional variants, there is an abundance of slang terms found in Quebec that are not found in France. Quebec French profanity uses references to Catholic liturgical terminology, rather than the references to prostitution that are more common in France. Many English words and calques have also been integrated in Quebec French, although less than in France. In Quebec, borrowed English words tend to have the same meaning as the English word. In France, they often have a very different meaning; for example 'le smoking' for 'tuxedo'. Borrowing from English is politically sensitive in Quebec and tends to be socially discouraged.
Gender-neutral usage
Formal Quebec French also has a very different approach to gender-neutral language than Metropolitan French. There is a much greater tendency to generalize feminine markers among nouns referring to professions. This is done in order to avoid having to refer to a woman with a masculine noun, and thereby seeming to suggest that a particular profession is primarily masculine. Forms that would be seen as highly unusual or stridently feminist in France are commonplace in Quebec, such as la docteure, la professeure, la première ministre, la gouverneure générale, and so forth. Many of these have been formally recommended by the Office québécois de la langue française and adopted by society at large. Official government and state titles and designations always have official, mandated French equivalent terms for each gender.Also, rather than following the rule that the masculine includes the feminine, it is relatively common to create doublets, especially in polemical speech: Québécoises et Québécois, tous et toutes, citoyens et citoyennes.
As an isolated anecdote, a Quebec labour union once decided to promulgate an epicene neologism on the model of fidèle, calling itself the , rather than use either professionnels or professionnels et professionnelles. This sparked a fair amount of debate and is rather on the outer edge of techniques for nonsexist writing in Quebec French.
Morphology (word formation)
Some suffixes are more productive in Quebec than in France, in particular the adjectival suffix -eux, which has a somewhat pejorative meaning: téter → téteux, niaiser → niaiseux ; obstiner → ostineux ; pot → poteux. This originates in the Norman language.The adjectival suffix -euse is added to verbal stems to form "the machine that verbs." For example, laver → laveuse "washing machine"; balayer → balayeuse "vacuum cleaner". In France "vacuum cleaner" is "aspirateur".
| Quebec French | English | Metropolitan French | Note |
| abatis | |||
| achigan | black bass | perche noire | |
| acre | acre | arpent | In Louisiana, an arpent is still a legal unit of measurement, and is not the same as an acre. Here, arpent is used both as a measure of length as well as area. Land was traditionally surveyed to either 40 or 80 arpents back from a river or bayou. For measuring area, a square mile contains 640 acres, but 512 arpents. |
| pinotte / arachide | peanut | cacahuète | |
| atoca / canneberge | cranberry | airelle | In Quebec, canneberge usually designates the fruit itself as well as the cranberry juice, whereas atoca usually refers to the cranberry jelly traditionally eaten with the Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey. |
| avionnerie | aircraft manufacturing plant | ||
| banc de neige | snow bank | congère | |
| barrer | to lock | verrouiller | French colonists would use a crossbar to secure the entrance to their dwelling. Hence, barring rather than locking the door. |
| débarrer | to unlock | déverrouiller | |
| bebitte / bibitte | bug | moustique / insecte / bestiole / bêbette | In France, the term "bitte" refers to a man's phallus. "Bitte" is not used in Quebec, though French terms such as this are recognized more and more. The younger Québécois generation can often use their own native terms and French terms alternately. The French on the other hand are more rarely exposed to Quebec French and so are less "accepting" of such deviations. |
| bicyclette | bicycle | vélo | |
| bleuets | lowbush/wild blueberries | myrtilles / airelle à feuilles étroites | see Quebec specialities section |
| bleuetière | blueberry field or farm | champ de myrtilles | |
| bordages | Ice stuck to the bank of a river. Often used to designate the slushy mix of ice and snow pushed to the side of the road by snow plows. | ||
| bouscueil | Jostling of ice under the effect of winds, tides, or streams | ||
| brûlot | noseeums | A type of cranefly / tiny fly that causes a burning sensation when it bites, thus the name. | |
| brunante | nightfall/dusk | crépuscule | |
| cabane à sucre | sugar shack | ||
| cacaoui | long-tailed duck | harelde boréale | A type of wild duck |
| carcajou | wolverine, glutton | glouton | |
| ceinture fléchée | Assumption sash | ||
| chopine | pint | pinte | Pinte is used in Canada, but refers to a quart |
| coureur de bois | backwoodsman, fur trader, lumberjack | ||
| débarbouillette | facecloth | gant de toilette | |
| demiard/Demi | half-pint | demi | |
| dépanneur | convenience store/corner store | épicerie / supérette | A small store serving the local community. Many of these are opened 24/7 and have a gas station attached to them. |
| doré | walleye/blue pike perch/sauger/doré | ||
| épluchette / épluchette de blé d'inde | corn roast | designates a social gathering where people husk and eat corn / To husk - éplucher | |
| érablière | maple grove | ||
| fin de semaine | weekend | week-end | |
| stationnement | parking lot, car park | parking | The word "stationnement" is the French word, but in France they replace many words by the English equivalent when it is shorter. |
| frasil | fragile ice | ||
| huard | loon | :fr:Plongeon huard|Plongeon Huard | A type of bird typically found in lakes and ponds. In Canada, this bird is found on one dollar coins and is alternatively used to designate one dollar coins. |
| magasinage/ Magasiner | Shopping/To go shopping | courses/Faire des courses / Faire les magasins | The word for "shop" or "store" in all varieties of French is le magasin. In Quebec, the verb magasiner is used for "shopping", and was naturally created by simply converting the noun. In France, the expression is either faire des courses, faire des achats, faire des emplettes, or faire du shopping. No single verb exists as does in Quebec. |
| Maringouin / Picaouin / Moustique | mosquito | moustique | |
| millage / kilométrage | mileage | kilométrage | |
| moose, elk | élan | The word "moose" is also used in Britain by many. | |
| ouananiche | freshwater salmon | saumon atlantique d'eau douce | |
| ouaouaron | bullfrog | grenouille-taureau | |
| outarde | Canada goose | bernache du Canada | |
| poudrerie / rafale de | blowing snow | rafale de poudreuse | |
| pruche | Eastern hemlock | tsuga du Canada | |
| raquetteur | snowshoer | celui qui fait des raquettes | |
| souffleuse | snowblower | chasse-neige | In Quebec, un chasse-neige is a snowplow though the term charrue is mainly used for snow plow. |
| suisse | eastern chipmunk | tamia rayé | Also sometimes, it is called petit suisse because when compared, it is smaller than a squirrel. |
| télézard | a couch potato | from télé + lézarder | |
| tire d'érable | maple taffy | ||
| traversier | ferryboat | ferry / bac | |
| tuque | tuque | bonnet | |
| tuxedo | tuxedo, dinner jacket | smoking | In Quebec, the word tuxedo is used to describe a dinner or evening jacket distinguished primarily by satin or grosgrain facings on the jacket's lapels and buttons and a similar stripe along the outseam of the trousers. The word "smoking" is generally used to refer to a tuxedo in France. |
| verge / cour | yard | As in cour arrière, literally backyard | |
| salon | living-room | salon / séjour |
Preservation of forms
Many differences that exist between Quebec French and Metropolitan French arise from the preservation of certain forms that are today archaic in Europe. For example, espérer for "to wait".Cour in Quebec is a backyard, whereas in France cour has dropped this meaning and primarily means a courtyard. However, in some areas of France, such as in the mining regions of northern France, cour still means backyard.
The word breuvage is used for " drink" in addition to boisson; this is an old French usage from which the English "beverage" originates. Breuvage may be used in European French, but generally indicates some nuance, possibly pejorative.
The word piastre or piasse, a slang term for a dollar, was in fact the term originally used in French for the American or Spanish dollar.
The word couple is used in standard French as a masculine noun, but in Quebec it is also used as a feminine noun in phrases like une couple de semaines. This is often thought to be an anglicism, but is in fact a preservation of an archaic French usage.
It is quite common in Quebec French to describe something positive using litotes, such as pas laid for beautiful or pas pire for good when standard French would suggest using the positive equivalent instead. However, Metropolitan French has its own commonly used litotes: pas bête or pas con ; pas mal ; pas dégueu ; and pas top, pas super or pas génial.
Prepositions
The preposition à is often used in possessive contexts, whereas standard French uses de; le char à Pierre instead of la voiture de Pierre. This is also found in the informal French of France, such as Hier j'ai vu la copine à Bruno.In a number of cases, Quebec speakers prefer to use the preposition à instead of using a non-prepositional phrase with ce ; for example à matin or à soir instead of ce matin and ce soir. Note also à cette heure, pronounced and sometimes spelt asteure or astheure for maintenant and désormais, which is also found in Queneau. These usages of à are considered colloquial.
Nautical terms
A number of terms that in other French-speaking regions are exclusively nautical are used in wider contexts in Quebec. This is often attributed to the original arrival of French immigrants by ship, and to the dominance of the Saint Lawrence River as the principal means of transport among the major settlements of the region in the past centuries. An example is the word débarquer, which in Quebec means to get off any conveyance ; in France, this word means only to disembark from a ship or aircraft, plus some colloquial uses. Another example would be vadrouille for mop.Political terms
Since Canada uses the Westminster system, unlike republican France, many political terms devised in English have had to be imported or new terms created. This is not always easy, and can lead to awkward constructions, the most famous example being Dominion, for which there is no French translation. As well in Canadian English the first minister of the federation is called the Prime Minister and the first minister of a province is called a Premier.However French makes no distinction and both are called Premier ministre in all cases. For example, "Premier ministre du Canada", "Premier ministre du Québec / de l'Alberta", etc.
Quebec specialties
There are also words for Quebec specialties that do not exist in Europe, for example poutine, CEGEP, tuque, and dépanneur.Blueberries, abundant in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, are called bleuets; in France, they are lumped together with myrtilles and bleuet means cornflower. Although very similar, these are not the same plants.
Informality
French speakers of Quebec use the informal second-person pronoun tu more often and in more contexts than speakers in France do. In certain contexts it may be perfectly appropriate to address a stranger or even the customer of a store using tu, whereas the latter would be considered impolite in France. The split often runs across generations in Quebec: Persons between 40 and 60 years of age often feel that sales persons, or service personnel giving them a tu instead of a vous are uncouth or uncultivated. Persons 60 years of age and older will sometimes feel insulted if a stranger uses the tu to them. Government employees as well as employees of large stores or large chains in Quebec are usually instructed to use vous with everybody, unless some kind of camaraderie is in play or they know the person well. Sometimes the split is also across social or educational lines. For instance, young academics are usually hesitant in using tu with slightly older colleagues who have just a few more years of seniority.A similar distinction in English, where, since the second person singular "thou" went out of use 200 years ago, might be whether to address or respond to someone on a "first-name basis". For example, one might say to a man that one has just met, "Thank you, Mr. Gibson" — equivalent to using vous. If Mr Gibson wants to maintain formality, that is, similar to using vous, he might say, "You're welcome", and if he wants to be more relaxed and familiar, he would add, "Please call me Jim". This gives Anglophones an inkling of the use of tu in Canadian French.
Metropolitan French public speakers such as politicians occasionally come across as stuffy or snobbish to certain Quebec Francophones. There is also a certain impression among the Quebec population that Metropolitan French is quite effeminate - though this is not often directly discussed. This may explain why even better educated Québécois rarely try to emulate the Metropolitan French accent, though many probably could do so with relative ease. This is also true for people from southern France. Visitors from southern France who move temporarily to Paris and pick up the local Parisian accent may be derided by their friends who have remained in the south. This is all similar to the perception North American English-speakers may have of British English as "uppity" or "fancy".
Idioms
There is a huge variety of idioms in Quebec that do not exist in France, such as fait que ; en masse ; s'en venir ; ben là! or voyons donc!, de même.Entire reference books have been written about idioms specific to Quebec. A handful of examples among many hundreds:
- J'ai mon voyage = J'en ai marre / Pas possible! = I'm fed up / Unbelievable!
- C'est de valeur = C'est dommage = What a pity
- Habillé comme la chienne à Jacques = Dressed up like a dog's dinner
- C’est malade/fou raide = That's sick/crazy/rad
- Se faire avoir = to get fooled
- Mais que = lorsque, quand que = When...
- Tirer le diable par la queue = Avoir les difficultés avec l’argent = I'm in a tight spot financially
- Se faire passer un sapin = To be lied to
- Avoir une face à claque = a bad person
- Avoir les yeux dans la graisse de bines = to be in love or to be tired
- Avoir l’estomac dans les talons = to be extremely hungry
- Être né pour un petit pain = One who doesn't have many opportunities. Usually used in the negative form.
- Il fait frette = It is cold
- Chanter la pomme = to flirt
- Se pogner le cul = to sit and do nothing all day
- Je m'en sacre = I do not give a damn
Slang terms
As with any two regional variants, there is an abundance of slang terms found in Quebec that are not found in France. Quebec French profanity uses references to Catholic liturgical equipment, rather than the references to prostitution that are more common in France.The expression "you're welcome" is bienvenue or ça me fait plaisir in Quebec, though de rien or pas de quoi is also used in Quebec. Note that the expression bonne journée is also often used for "goodbye" in Quebec, which it is not in France.
Some slang terms unique to Quebec:
| Québécois | English | Notes |
| vnir | to come | In Quebec check les ben vnir! In Europe, regarde le bien s'en venir |
| ben | very | Used informally for "Well...," on both sides. Ben, tu te souviens de cette encyclopédie sur Internet?. It is derived from the formal form Eh bien. |
| bibitte | small insect | Derived from bébête for "small creature" |
| blonde | girlfriend | May be used regardless of hair colour |
| bobette | underwear | In Europe, sous-vêtements |
| brailler | to weep, to whine | In Europe, to scream, to speak very loudly |
| char | car | Comes from cart and horse days. In Europe, a char is an army tank or a chariot. |
| crosser | to masturbate; to double-cross | Verb is "to masturbate" in reflexive form only. crosseur = wanker, swindler. In Europe the French say branler |
| crier | to obtain | In Europe, to cry. See also pogner |
| déguidine! | stop procrastinating, get on with it, hurry up | Note that the second "d" is pronounced "dz". See also déniaise!, envoye!, enweye!, awaye! |
| écœurant | wonderful | Literally "nauseating", used ironically to mean something is overwhelmingly good, as an English speaker might say "so sweet I got a tooth ache". Note, someone calling you mon écœurant is not a term of endearment. |
| envoye! | let's go, hurry up, come on | Often pronounced with a "w" sound, not with "v" |
| faque | that said, so, that means | Contraction of fait que or ça fait que. Also, in Europe, Ce qui fait que... |
| fif | homosexual | fam. Osti quié fif ce gars la.. European French = PD / pédé |
| fin, fine | nice, sweet | In Europe = mignon, mignonne |
| flo | a kid | Might possibly be an anglicism from "fellow"; European French = môme / gosses / les drôles |
| fret | cold | Denotes something colder than merely ça caille ! / Il fait froid |
| le fun | fun, amusing | c'est très le fun; c'est amusant |
| gale or galle | scab | Possibly related to the disease. |
| garrocher | to throw without caution, fling carelessly | pronounced garrocher or goarrocher |
| genre | "like" | This slang is used as a parallel to the "like" word used by some American slang; the French word for "like", comme, may also be used. These words appear often in the same sentence as the word tsé as a form of slipped words within spoken structure. The use of voilà in this manner, although common in France, is not found in Canada. |
| gollé | trench, ditch | from English "gully" |
| graine | cock, penis | Eille le gros, on voit ta graine! European French = bitte, queue |
| grouiller | hurry up or move | This verb is often used in grouille-toé, meaning "hurry up". Also used to mean that "you move" as in grouille pas, meaning "don't move". Same thing in Europe: grouille-toi, grouille tes puces |
| guidoune | prostitute, badly dressed woman, effeminate man | |
| jaser | to chat | |
| lutter | hit with a car | Can be used as follows: J'ai lutté un orignal meaning "I hit a moose". Lutter in proper French means "to wrestle". |
| magané | deteriorated, used, wrecked | Can also mean tired, sick or exhausted. |
| mets-en | "totally", "for sure", "I'll say" | Used to agree with a statement |
| pantoute | not at all | Contraction of pas en tout |
| paqueté / saoul | drunk | |
| pitoune | babe/chick ; or floating log | Depends on the context, from Occitan pichona , meaning young girl |
| plate | boring, unfortunate | plat with the t pronounced |
| pleumer | to vomit, sometimes also used instead of plumer | To vomit when having nausea; J'ai trop bu hier, j'ai pleumé partout |
| plotte | vagina or promiscuous woman | Very vulgar, similar to the English "cunt" |
| plumer | To pluck. | Secondly, it can be used as a verb to describe a beating in a game; Je vais te plumer aux cartes in the sense of plucking the feathers of an opponent; similar to the English expression "to lose one's shirt". Finally, as a verb meaning "to peel", as in J'ai plumé quelques légumes. |
| poche | stupid, untalented | Can also mean "unfortunate" |
| pogner | get, grab | Can also mean to be sexually attractive, successful, or to have a loud argument with someone. It may also mean "obtain", as in Je me suis pogné une nouvelle radio. |
| quétaine | kitsch, tacky | |
| taper, tomber sur les nerfs | to irritate someone, "get on one's nerves" | Only taper sur les nerfs in France. |
| tête carrée | English-Canadians | Used only in Quebec, this term can be considered pejorative or even a racial slur. Literally "square head" in English. |
| toé | you | |
| tsé | you know | Used in the same way the French use vous savez and corresponds to the English version "you know" or the American version "y'know". Often heard in the same sentence as the word genre, as both are slang representing lack of clarity. |
| se tasser | move over | Europe: s'entasser: to be jammed in together. Ça se tasse, a situation where tempers settle down after a scandal or quarrel |
Words from aboriginal languages
| Word | Meaning |
| Achigan | Black bass |
| Atoca | Cranberry |
| Boucane old term of boucan also root of buccaneers | Smoke |
| Carcajou | Wolverine |
| Manitou | Important individual |
| "Maskinongé" | Muskellunge "Muskie", largest member of the freshwater Pike family |
| Micouène | Large wooden spoon |
| Mocassin | Moccasin |
| Ouananiche | Land-locked variety of salmon |
Use of anglicisms
Loanwords from English, as well as calques or loans of syntactic structures, are known as anglicisms.Colloquial and slang registers
The use of anglicisms in colloquial and Quebec French slang is commonplace, but varies from a place to another, depending on the English presence in the area. These words cannot be used in official documents or in academic writing, etc. Some examples of long-standing anglicisms include:| Anglicism | Meaning | English word |
| anyway | Anyway | |
| all-dressed | With all the toppings | |
| bécosse | Outhouse, washroom | backhouse |
| bines | Pork and beans | beans |
| blood | nice, generous | |
| chum | Male friend; boyfriend | chum |
| checker | To check | check |
| chiffe/chiffre | A shift | shift |
| cruiser | Make a pass at | cruise |
| cute | Cute | |
| domper | To dump | dump |
| faker | To simulate, pretend | fake |
| fan | A fan, a ceiling fan | |
| filer | To feel ; when unmodified, to feel good; negated, to feel bad | feel |
| flusher | To flush ; get rid of; dump | flush |
| flyé | Extravagant, far out, over the top | fly |
| frencher | To French kiss | French |
| full | Very much, full | |
| game | Game, sports match or, used as an adjective, meaning having the courage to do something; Je suis game. | |
| good | Good! | |
| hot | Hot | |
| hot-chicken | Hot Chicken sandwich | hot chicken |
| lousse | Loose, untied, released | loose |
| moppe | Mop | mop |
| pantré | The pantry or food cupboard; mets-ça s'a pantré | pantry |
| pâte à dents | Toothpaste | calque of "toothpaste" |
| peanut | Peanut | |
| pitcher | to throw, to pitch | to pitch |
| poignee le ditch | to fall in the ditch with your car | |
| party | Party, social gathering | |
| scramme | Scram! Get lost! | |
| scrapper | Scrap, ruin, break, destroy, nullify | scrap |
| slacker | to slacken, loosen; slack off, take it easy; fire | slack |
| smatte | Smart; wise-guy ; likeable ; cool; | smart |
| smoke meat | Montreal smoked meat | smoked meat |
| swomp | Swamp, bog | swamp |
| toast | Can be used as the verb for toasting. Québécois can also use the word toaster' instead of grille-pain for the appliance. | toast |
| tof | Difficult, rough | tough |
| toffer | Withstand, endure | tough it out |
| toune | Song | tune |
| whatever | whatever |
It is also very commonplace for an English word to be used as a nonce word, for example when the speaker temporarily cannot remember the French word. This is particularly common with technical words; indeed, years ago before technical documentation began to be printed in French in Quebec, an English word might be the most common way for a French-speaking mechanic or other technical worker to refer to the mechanisms he or she had to deal with.
It is often difficult or impossible to distinguish between such a nonce anglicism and an English word quoted as such for effect.
There are some anglicisms that have no obvious connection to any currently existing modern Canadian English idiom. For example, être sur le party''.
Standard register
A number of Quebecisms used in the standard register are also derived from English forms, especially as calques, such as prendre une marche and banc de neige However, in standard and formal registers, there is a much stronger tendency to avoid English borrowings in Quebec than in France.As a result, especially with regard to in modern items, Quebec French often contains forms designed to be more "French" than an English borrowing that may be used anyway in European French, like fin de semaine which is week-end in France, or courriel for France's mail or mel.
Some are calques into French of English phrases that Continental French borrowed directly, such as un chien chaud for European French hot dog. In Quebec, the spelling gai to mean homosexual is standard. Note that in France, gai has kept the original meaning of "happy", "cheerful" while gay is used to mean "homosexual" but specifically in reference to mass gay-American subculture and by those usually over 35 who identify as gay. Gay men in France 35 and under usually label themselves as homo, not gay.
Although many of these forms were promulgated by the Office québécois de la langue française of Quebec, they have been accepted into everyday use. Indeed, the French government has since adopted the word courriel. The term has been gaining acceptance as it is now used in respected newspapers such as Libération.
Jargons and slangs
Several social groups, tied together by either a profession or an interest, use a part or all of the corresponding English jargon or slang in their domains, instead of that used in other French-speaking countries. English terms are, for example, very widely used in typically male jobs like engineering, carpentry, and computer programming. This situation was caused historically by a lack of properly translated technical manuals and documentation.Recent translation efforts in targeted domains such as the automotive industry and environmental engineering are yielding some results encouraging to Francophiles. The most English-ridden Quebec slang without question is used among members of the gamer community, who are also for the most part Millennials and frequent computer users. In these circles, computer gaming slang is used as well as an enormous number of normal terms commonly found in computer applications and games.
Perception
The perceived overuse of anglicisms in the colloquial register is one cause of the stigmatization of Quebec French. Both the Québécois and the European French accuse each other of using too many anglicisms. A running joke of the difference between European French and Quebec French is that in Europe, on se gare dans un parking and in Quebec, on se parque dans un stationnement.Quebec and France tend to have entirely different anglicisms because in Quebec they are the gradual result of two and a half centuries of living with English speaking neighbors, whereas in Europe anglicisms are much more recent and the result of the increasing international dominance of American English.
Other differences
Like most global languages there are regional differences. Even within Quebec there are regional uses of words or expression. Here are some other differences between standard Quebec French and European French:| Quebec term | Translation | Meaning of term in Europe | European term | Note |
| Char | Car | Tank | Voiture | |
| Abreuvoir | Water fountain | Watering place for animals | Fontaine | Used only for animals in Europe |
| Achalandage | Traffic | Stock, merchandise, clientele | Circulation, Embouteillage, bouchon | |
| Arrêt | A stop or command to stop | Arrêt | Used on all stop signs. Also used as arrêt d'autobus, "prochain arrêt", etc. | |
| Aubaine | Sale | Opportunity | Promotion | An item is une aubaine but en promotion |
| Baccalauréat | Bachelor's degree | High school leaving exam or diploma | Baccalauréat | |
| Barrer | To lock | To block or to strike through | Fermer à clé, verrouiller | Quebec usage archaic in Europe |
| Bête | Disagreeable | Stupid | Désagréable, impoli | European usage also used in Quebec |
| Blé d'Inde | Corn | Maïs | Maïs also standard in Quebec when referring to the corn, aka Mais éclatée → popped corn. Blé d'Inde is always used to refer to the whole stalk, aka corn on the cob. | |
| Brosse | Drinking binge | Brush | Cuite | |
| Cartable | Binder | School bag, Satchel | Classeur | See also classeur |
| Cédule | Schedule | Tax bracket | Emploi du temps / Agenda | |
| Chandail | T-shirt, sweater, sweatshirt | Knit sweater | Pull-over/T-shirt | |
| Choquer | To anger | To shock | Fâcher | |
| Classeur | Filing cabinet | Binder | Armoire à dossier | See also cartable |
| Correct | Good, sufficient, kind, O.K. | corrected | bon, juste. | |
| Coupe glacée | Ice cream sundae | coupe de glace de la glace au chocolat/à la fraise, etc. | An ice cream stand is known as a bar laitier or Crèmerie | |
| Croche | Crooked; strange, dishonest | Eighth note | curieux / bizarre / étrange | |
| Crème glacée | Ice cream | de la glace | An ice cream stand is known as a bar laitier or Crèmerie | |
| Débarbouillette | Dishrag, washcloth, | gant de toilette | ||
| Débarquer | Get out of | Disembark | Descendre | |
| Débrouiller | To figure things out by onself, to get out of a jam | To clear up, as in one's thoughts | ||
| Déjeuner | Breakfast | Lunch | Petit déjeuner | See also dîner, souper. Qc. usage same as in Belgium, Switzerland and Occitania. |
| Déniaiser | To get one's act together, sexually to loosen up | |||
| Dîner | Lunch | Dinner | Déjeuner | Qc. usage same as in Belgium, Switzerland, and Occitania. Dîner as "dinner/evening meal" is standard in formal settings and upscale milieux, such as business, military, diplomatic circles, society dinner party, or an upscale restaurant. In Quebec, the evening meal is "le souper". |
| Efface | Eraser | Gomme | Gomme is used for chewing-gum | |
| Épais , épaisse | Dumb, slow-witted | Thick | Con, conne | Con is also in usage in Quebec with the same meaning. |
| Espadrilles | Running shoes | Rope-soled sandal | Baskets / Tennis / Chaussures de sport | |
| Être plein | To be full | pleine: to be pregnant; to be drunk | être bourré / Avoir trop mangé | |
| Familiale | Station wagon | Estate car | Break | |
| Fesser | To hit | To spank | Frapper | |
| Fête | Birthday | Saint's day | Anniversaire | |
| Football | Gridiron football | Association football | football canadien / football américain | This usage of football to mean the local code or its closely related U.S. cousin is so uniform throughout Canada that the governing body for association football in Quebec is officially the Fédération de soccer du Québec. |
| Innocent | Stupid | Innocent, naive | Imbécile | |
| Insignifiant | Stupid | Insignificant, unremarkable | Imbécile | |
| Linge | Clothes | Linen | Vêtements | |
| Liqueur | Soft drink | Liquor, liqueur | Soda | |
| Magasiner | To go shopping | Faire des courses, faire les magasins, du lèche-vitrine | ||
| Maringouin | Mosquito | Moustique | ||
| Mouiller | To rain | To wet | Pleuvoir | |
| Niaiser | Annoy, tease, kid, act up | Se moquer or dire des niaiseries | Déniaiser is to make a man lose his virginity. J'avais juste vingt ans et je me déniaisais/ Au bordel ambulant d'une armée en campagne | |
| Niaiseux , niaiseuse | An idiot, a fool, an annoying and childish person | niais="stupid", "simpleton" | Can be said to describe a thing too, like : "C'est donc ben niaiseux ce film là!". | |
| Niaiserie, Niaisage | Something that is dumb, childish, frivolous and a waste of time | Connerie | Usually used to describe things that a "Niaiseux" does. | |
| Patate | Potato | informal word for potato | Pomme de terre | Tu es dans les patates!, told to someone who acts out of, or makes a statement while being unaware of what is going on. Europe = Être à côté de la plaque |
| Peser sur | Press | Weigh | Appuyer, enfoncer | |
| La plaque | License plate | License plate | Les plaques | The French license plate codes are based on a system developed by the mining authorities; Quebec requires only a rear plate on cars and pickup trucks. |
| Poudrerie | Blizzard, blowing snow | Gunpowder factory | Blizzard, tempête de neige, rafales de poudreuse | |
| Rentrer | Enter | Re-enter | Entrer | In Quebec, "re-enter" is rerentrer. Note that colloquial French also uses "rentrer" and "rerentrer" with the same meanings as in Quebec. |
| Sans-cœur | Mean | Heartless | Méchant | |
| Soccer | Association football | Originally British slang for association football, but now generally considered an Americanism in most of Europe | Foot / Football | See note on Football above. |
| Souper | Supper | Late-night dinner | Dîner | Quebec usage same as in Belgium, Switzerland and Occitania. See also déjeuner, dîner. In formal and upscale settings, the international practice is followed i.e. dîner is the evening meal while "souper" is a late-night, informal meal. |
| Suçon | Lollipop | Love bite | Sucette | and vice versa: a sucette is a love bite or fellatio in Quebec. |
| Téléroman | Soap opera | A soap opera or a continuing series | Feuilleton | |
| Thé glacé | Iced Tea | Ice Tea | ||
| Touché | Touchdown | Not used in this sense in Europe. | Touchdown | See Touchdown Atlantic for an example of the use of touché in reference to Canadian football. |
| Valise | Trunk of a car | Suitcase | Coffre | |
| Vidanges | Garbage | Act of emptying | Ordures | Vidange in France is an oil change for the car, and also an empty bottle in Belgium |
Many, but not all, of the European equivalents for the words listed above are also used or at least understood in Quebec.