Belgicism

'Kot' is an example of a common belgicism. A loan from Dutch meaning 'shack', but with a French plural 's' (which humorously would translate as 'vomit' into Dutch).

A belgicism (known in French and Dutch as a belgicisme) is a word, expression, or turn of phrase that is unique to Belgian French. Even though the French spoken in Belgium is closer to the French spoken in France than the French spoken by Québécois, there are a considerable number of words and phrases that have disappeared from common usage in other Francophone nations that remain common in everyday Belgian speech.

Certain words used in Belgium that are not used in Standard French are also found in northern France and in Switzerland, for example chicon (‘endive’) and septante (‘seventy’, unlike the ventigesimal soixante-dix, or ‘sixty-ten’, used in France.) In these cases, these words are sometimes not classified as being solely belgicisms.

Origins of Belgicisms

Belgium has three national official languages, and consequently, the French spoken in the French part of Belgium is considerably under the influence of the languages of the other Belgian regions, and is also enriched by vocabulary from the languages of neighbouring countries, mainly Dutch, but to a much lesser extent German and English as well.

Belgian French is also enriched by vocabulary from other regional Romance languages, such as Picard, Walloon, Lorrain and Champenois. Belgicisms directly influenced by Walloon are specifically called Wallonisms.

Different types of belgicisms

One can point to:

Some examples

Belgicism Dutch Metropolitan French English
à tantôt tot later à tout à l'heure see you later
aller à la toilette naar het toilet gaan aller aux toilettes to go to the toilet
astruquer verslikken s'étrangler to choke drinking something
au matin deze morgen ce matin this morning
auto-scooter botsauto auto-tamponneuse bumper car
boiler ketel, boiler chauffe-eau boiler
brosser un cours brossen, spijbelen sécher un cours to skip class
patates aardappels pommes de terre potatoes
canule slechte voetballer (No French equivalent) terrible football player
carabistouilles stommigheden bêtises antics, silly things
carrousel draaimolen, carrousel manège forain carrousel
chicon witloof endive chicory, Belgian endive
co-koter samenwonen partager un logement to have a roommate (usually students)
couque koek brioche bun
dikkenek dikkenek (literally: fat neck) vantard boasting, boastful
divan sofa, zetel canapé sofa
douf ("Il fait douf!") heet chaleur étouffante ("il fait très chaud") asphyxiating heat
drache stortregen très grosse pluie heavy rain
écolage opleiding apprentissage training
fraiser kloppen frapper to knock
GSM gsm téléphone portable mobile/cell phone
kot kot petit studio d'étudiant digs; student residence
(avoir des) krolles krullen hebben (avoir les) cheveux frisés, bouclés (to have) curly hair
lait russe ("Russian milk") koffie verkeerd café renversé, café au lait café au lait, latte
nonante negentig quatre-vingt-dix ninety
septante zeventig soixante-dix seventy
spéce speciaal, ongewoon spécial special; unusual
toquer "nen toek geven", kloppen frapper to knock
torchon dweil serpillière floorcloth
volle gaz volle gas rapidement quickly (full steam ahead)

See also

For a list of words relating to Belgicisms, see the Belgian French category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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