French–English dictionary

Byzantine

(historical) A native of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul) or of the Byzantine empire

c. à s.

Abbreviation of tablespoon, a unit of measurement.

c.-à-d.

(initialism) That is, namely, in other words, that is to say.

c'est ça !

(colloquial) A holophrastic expression used to dismiss something that the speaker doesn't care about, doesn't think important, or doesn't want to consider or discuss any further. Sometimes conceived as an ellipsis of whatever you say, implying feigned deference: whatever you say [apparently must be true].

c'est comme ça

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see it,‎ is,‎ what,‎ it,‎ is. This thing has its own distinct nature; this thing is itself.

c'est quelque chose

(US, colloquial) Something that is extraordinary: often troublesome, difficult or problematic, but sometimes extraordinary in a positive sense.

c'est-à-dire

(idiomatic, conjunctive) In the sense of.

CA

(Scotland, Canada, AU, NZ, South Africa, accounting) Initialism of chartered accountant.

ça commence à bien faire

Especially as an expression of exasperation: the limit of patience or tolerance has been reached.

ça ne fait rien

It is not important; do not worry (used to reassure or comfort the person to whom it is said).

ça suffit !

Stop! Don't do that any more!

ça va

Conventional response to "how are you?", indicating that one is well.

ça y est

(informal) Used when finding what one has been looking for or trying to recall, or on successful completion of a task.

cabane

(US) A small dwelling characteristic of the frontier, especially when built from logs with simple tools and not constructed by professional builders, but by those who meant to live in it.

cabane dans les arbres

(chiefly, US) A house, or similar structure within a tree, or several trees, built with light materials.

cabanon

A building, such as a barn, shed, or garage, that is separate from, but associated with some main building.

cabaret

Live entertainment held in a restaurant or nightclub; the genre of music associated with this form of entertainment, especially in early 20th century Europe.

cabillot

(nautical) A wooden or metal pin, short rod, crosspiece or similar, fixed transversely in the eye of a rope or chain to be secured to any other loop, ring, or bight, e.g. a sea painter to a lifeboat.

cabine

A boxlike room or enclosure just big enough to accommodate one standing person, such as a phone booth or polling booth.

cabine de douche

A very small room used for a shower or a toilet.

cabine de pilotage

The compartment in an aircraft or spacecraft in which the pilot sits and from where the craft is controlled. [from 20th c.]

cabinet

(UK, AU) A small enclosure in a public toilet for individual use.

cabinet d'aisance

(US, Philippines, euphemism) A room containing a public toilet: a public lavatory.

cabinet de toilettes

(nautical) The toilet of a ship.

cabinets

(NZ) A small secondary lavatory having a fixture used for urination and defecation and sink but no bathtub or shower.

câble

An assembly of two or more wires, used for electrical power or data circuits; one or more and/or the whole may be insulated.

cabot

A mongrel dog (or sometimes cat); an animal of mixed breed or uncertain origin.

caboter

(intransitive, nautical) To sail along a coast.

caboteur

A merchant vessel that stays in coastal waters, especially one that travels between ports of the same country.

cabotin

(acting) An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.

cabotine

(acting) An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.

cabotiner

(idiomatic, performing arts) To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.

cabriole

A playful leap or jump.

cabrioler

To leap or jump about in a sprightly or playful manner.

cabriolet

(vehicles) A convertible car: a car with a removable or foldable roof able to convert from a closed to open vehicle and back again.

caca

(slang) Excrement.

cacahuète

A legume resembling a nut, the fruit of the plant Arachis hypogaea, native to South America.

cacao

A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.

cacaoyer

A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.

cacardement

The cry of a goose or similar bird.

cacarder

(intransitive) To make a loud, harsh sound like a car horn.

cacatoès

A bird of the family Cacatuidae with a curved beak and a zygodactyl foot. [from 1610s]

cacatois

(nautical) A small, light sail located high on a mast (above the skysail) and used for speed.

cache

(computing) A fast temporary storage where recently or frequently used information is stored to avoid having to reload it from a slower storage medium.

cache-nez

A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.

Cachemire

A contested geographic region of South Asia in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, located between (and de facto divided between) India, Pakistan and China.

cacher

(transitive, architecture) To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipes) or to bring to a required form.

cacherout

(Jewish law) The Jewish dietary laws, stating which foods are fit to eat.

cacheroute

(Jewish law) The Jewish dietary laws, stating which foods are fit to eat.

cachet

A stamp used to impress a design on a soft substance such as wax.

cachet de la poste

A marking made by a postal service on a delivery, usually indicating the place where and the date and time when the item was received or processed for the first time, mostly serving to cancel a postage stamp.

cacheter

(transitive) To close securely to prevent leakage.

cachette

A place to hide.

cachot

(US) A jail or guardhouse, especially in a naval military prison or jail on a ship, navy base, or (in fiction) spacecraft.

cachottier

Having an inclination to secrecy.

cacodémon

An evil or malevolent spirit.

cacophonie

A mix of discordant sounds; dissonance.

cacophonique

Containing, consisting of, or producing harsh, unpleasant or discordant sounds.

cacou

(UK, MLE, Ireland, derogatory, offensive ) A working-class youth, especially one associated with aggression, poor education, and a perceived "common" taste in clothing and lifestyle.

cactus

(botany) Any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.

cadavérique

Pertaining to a corpse.

cadavre

(literary, medicine) A dead body; especially the corpse of a human to be dissected. [from late 14th c.]

caddie

(by extension, golf, also, attributively) A person hired to assist a golfer by carrying their golf clubs and providing advice.

cadeau

Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.

cadenas

Something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.

cadenasser

To lock using a padlock.

cadenette

A single strand of dreadlocks.

cadenettes

A hairstyle worn by Rastafarians and others in which the hair is left to grow long, and twisted into matted strings.

cadereau

A dry creek or streambed, a gulch which temporarily or seasonally fills and flows (after sufficient rain).

cadet

A student at a military school who is training to be an officer.

cadien

Relating to the Cajun people or their culture.

Cadix

A village and commune of Tarn department, Occitania, France.

Cadiz

A port city and municipality, the capital of the province of Cadiz, Andalusia, Spain.

cadjin

Relating to the Cajun people or their culture.

cadran solaire

A device measuring the time of day by the position of a shadow cast by a pole or plate (gnomon) upon an engraved series of marks.

cadratin

(typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.

cadre

A compartment (as a drawer) of an item of furniture used for storage, such as a cupboard, a shelf, etc.

cadres

(military) The framework or skeleton upon which a new regiment is to be formed; the officers of a regiment forming the staff.

cadreur

Somebody who operates a movie camera or television camera.

caduc

(biology, anatomy) Describing a part that falls off, or is shed, at a particular time or stage of development.

caducifolié

(botany) Of or pertaining to trees which lose their leaves in winter or the dry season.

cafard

(British, slang, with definite article) A bad mood.

cafarder

(intransitive, Canada, US, pejorative) Often said of children: to report incriminating information about another person, or a person's wrongdoing in an annoying fashion, usually to a person in a position of authority over the accused person; to tell on somebody. [from late 15th c.]

café

A coffee shop; an establishment selling coffee and sometimes other non-alcoholic beverages, simple meals or snacks, with a facility to consume them on the premises.

café au lait

(figurative, informal, attributive) Affluent leftism.

café court

A concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee.

café espresso

A concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee.

café express

A concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee.

café-restaurant

(US) A typically small restaurant, historically modeled after a railroad dining car, that serves lower-class fare, normally having a counter with stools along one side and booths on the other.

caféier

A tropical plant of the genus Coffea.

caféine

An alkaloid, C8H10N4O2, found naturally in tea and coffee plants, which acts as a mild stimulant on the central nervous system. [from 1830]

cafèt’

(chiefly, US, Canada) A restaurant in which customers select their food at a counter then carry it on a tray to a table to eat.

cafetan

A long tunic worn in the Eastern Mediterranean.

cafétéria

(chiefly, US, Canada) A restaurant in which customers select their food at a counter then carry it on a tray to a table to eat.

cafetière

A pot in which coffee is brewed or from which it is served.

cafre

(countable, South Africa, Rhodesia, Namibia, ethnic slur, offensive, derogatory) A black person. [from 17th c.]

caftan

A long tunic worn in the Eastern Mediterranean.

cafter

(intransitive, with on or out) To inform on someone; to betray someone to the police or authorities. [from 20th c.]

cafteur

(Internet) A packet of information sent by a server to a World Wide Web browser and then returned by the browser each time it accesses that server, used to maintain state between otherwise stateless HTTP transactions, for example, to identify the user.

cafteuse

One who tattles (reports others' wrongdoings), often a child seeking attention.

cage

A vertical passage housing a lift or elevator.

cage d'escalier

A shaft in a multi-story building enclosing a stairway or staircase.

cageot

A large open box or basket, used especially to transport fragile goods. [from 1680s]

cagette

(UK, Irish, Commonwealth) A small basket or receptacle for collecting and selling fruit, particularly strawberries.

cagnotte

A pool of money to which card players contribute a portion of their winnings, which is used for paying shared expenses such as the cost of the premises or refreshments; (by extension) any pool of money to which people contribute for shared expenses or other joint purposes; also, any fund of liquid assets set aside for future use.

cagoule

A type of warm headgear covering the neck, head, and often part of the face, with apertures left as necessary, often made out of wool.

caguer

(transitive) To defecate (on); to shit.

cahier

A booklet for students, containing either problems or exercises, and blank, often lined pages for writing answers.

cahot

(informal) A minor obstacle or setback.

cahoter

(transitive) To push or shake abruptly and roughly.

caillé

(film) Ellipsis of press junket.

caille des blés

Any of various small game birds of the genera Coturnix, Anurophasis or Perdicula in the Old World family Phasianidae or of the New World family Odontophoridae.

cailler

(transitive) To cause to clot or form into a mass.

caillot

A thrombus, solidified mass of blood.

caillou

A small stone, especially one rounded by the action of water.

caïman

Either of two species of large amphibious reptile, Alligator mississippiensis or Alligator sinensis, in the genus Alligator within order Crocodilia, which have sharp teeth and very strong jaws and are native to the Americas and China, respectively.

Caïn

(biblical character) The son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel.

caïne

(organic chemistry, pharmacology) A synthetic alkaloid used as a local anesthetic.

Caïphe

A Jewish high priest in the first century CE who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus.

caire

The fibre obtained from the husk of a coconut, used chiefly in making rope, matting and as a peat substitute.

cairn

A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.

caisse

A cuboid space; a cuboid container, often with a hinged lid.

caisse claire

(music) A set of stiff wires held under tension against the bottom head of a drum to create a rattling sound.

caisse de crédit municipal

The business premises of a pawnbroker; where loans are made, with personal property as security

caisse enregistreuse

A machine that tabulates the amount of sales transactions, makes a permanent and cumulative record of them, and has a drawer in which cash can be kept.

caissier

(banking, chiefly, US) A bank clerk who receives and pays out money.

caissière

(banking, chiefly, US) A bank clerk who receives and pays out money.

caisson

(architectural element) An ornamental sunken panel in a ceiling or dome.

cajoler

(transitive) To wheedle or persuade (a person, organisation, animal etc.) gradually or by use of flattery to do something.

cajou

A tree, Anacardium occidentale, native to northeastern Brazil, now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.

cake

A cake containing dried fruits and, optionally, nuts, citrus peel and spice.

cakes

(slang, with the) The police, considered as a group entity.

Calabre

A peninsula and administrative region of southern Italy.

Calais

A city in Pas-de-Calais department, Hauts-de-France, France.

calamité

(countable) A cause of misery or ruin.

calamiteux

Causing or involving calamity; disastrous.

calancher

(idiomatic, euphemistic) To die.

calandre

Calender machine A machine, used for the purpose of giving cloth, paper etc., a smooth, even, and glossy or glazed surface, by cold or hot pressure, or for watering them and giving them a wavy appearance; it consists of two or more cylinders revolving nearly in contact, with the necessary apparatus for moving and regulating.

calcaire

Resembling or containing calcium carbonate or limestone; chalky.

calcif

Underwear covering the genitalia and often buttocks, usually going no higher than the navel.

calciner

(physical chemistry) To heat (a substance) without melting in order to drive off water, etc., and to oxidize or reduce it; specifically, to decompose (carbonates) into oxides, and, especially, to heat (limestone) to form quicklime.

calcite

(mineral) A very widely distributed crystalline form of calcium carbonate, CaCO3, found as limestone, chalk and marble.

calcium

The chemical element (Symbol Ca), with an atomic number 20. It is a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal which occurs naturally as carbonate in limestone and as silicate in many rocks.

calcul

(chess, uncountable) The act or process of imagining sequences of potential moves and responses without actually moving the pieces.

calculable

Able to be calculated; calculatable.

calculatrice

A mechanical or electronic device that performs mathematical calculations; sometimes, an electronic one specifically.

calculer

(transitive) To reckon, calculate.

calculette

A mechanical or electronic device that performs mathematical calculations; sometimes, an electronic one specifically.

Calcutta

Former name of Kolkata: the capital and largest city of West Bengal, India.

caldeira

(vulcanology) A large crater formed by collapse of the cone or edifice of a volcano.