page_title: Glossary of French expressions in English
section_title: P
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of French expressions in English / Used in English and French / P
caption_attribution_description: English: A Pain au chocolat from a Belgian Bakery. Français&#160;: Petit pain au chocolat en Belgique (Hamois).
context_page_description: Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. Thoroughly English words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, machine, money, police, publicity, role, routine and table, are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and are commonly used by English speakers without any consciousness of their French origin.
  This article, on the other hand, covers French words and phrases that have entered the English lexicon without ever losing their character as Gallicisms: they remain unmistakably "French" to an English speaker. They are most common in written English, where they retain French diacritics and are usually printed in italics. In spoken English, at least some attempt is generally made to pronounce them as they would sound in French; an entirely English pronunciation is regarded as a solecism.
  Some of them were never "good French", in the sense of being grammatical, idiomatic French usage.
context_section_description: pain au chocolat
  lit. "bread with chocolate." Despite the name, it is not made of bread but puff pastry with chocolate inside. The term chocolatine is used in some Francophone areas (especially the South-West) and sometimes in English.
  pain aux raisins
  raisin bread.
  panache
  verve; flamboyance.
  papier-mâché
  lit. "chewed paper"; a craft medium using paper and paste.
  par avion
  by aircraft. In English, specifically by air mail, from the phrase found on air mail envelopes.
  par excellence
  better than all the others, quintessential.
  parc fermé
  lit. "closed park". A secure area at a Grand Prix circuit where the cars may be stored overnight.
  parkour
  urban street sport involving climbing and leaping, using buildings, walls, curbs to ricochet off much as if one were on a skateboard, often in follow-the-leader style. Originally a phonetic form of the French word parcours, which means "a run, a route" Also known as, or the predecessor to, "free running", developed by Sébastien Foucan.
  parole
  1) (in linguistics) speech, more specifically the individual, personal phenomenon of language; see langue and parole. 2) (in criminal justice) conditional early release from prison; see parole.
  parvenu
  a social upstart.
  pas de deux
  lit. "step for two"; in ballet, a dance or figure for two performers, a duet; also a close relationship between two people.
  pas de trois
  lit. "step for three"; in ballet, a dance or figure for three performers.
  passe-partout
  a document or key that allows the holder to travel without hindrance from the authorities or enter any location.
  pastiche
  a derivative work; an imitation.
  patois
  a dialect; jargon.
  père
  lit. "father", used after a man's surname to distinguish a father from a son, as in Alexandre Dumas, père.
  peloton
  in cycling, the main group of riders in a road race.
  petite bourgeoisie
  often anglicised as "petty bourgeoisie", used to designate the middle class.
  la petite mort
  lit. "the little death"; an expression for the weakening or loss of consciousness following an intense orgasm.
  Pied-Noir (plural Pieds-Noirs)
  lit. "black foot", a European Algerian in the pre-independence state.
  pied-à-terre (also pied à terre)
  lit. "foot-on-the-ground"; a place to stay, generally small and applied to a secondary residence in a city.
  pince-nez
  lit. "nose-pincher", a type of spectacles without temple arms.
  piste
  lit. "trail" or "track"; often used referring to skiing at a ski area (on piste) versus skiing in the back country (off piste).
  plage
  beach, especially a fashionable seaside resort.
  plat du jour
  lit. "dish of the day"; a dish served in a restaurant on a particular day but separate from the regular menu.
  plongeur (fem. plongeuse)
  a male (or female) dishwasher in a professional kitchen.
  plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (or plus ça change, plus c'est pareil) (often abbreviated to just plus ça change)
  the more things change, the more they stay the same.
  point d'appui
  a location where troops assemble prior to a battle. While this figurative meaning also exists in French, the first and literal meaning of point d'appui is a fixed point from which a person or thing executes a movement (such as a footing in climbing or a pivot).
  porte-cochère
  an architectural term referring to a kind of porch or portico-like structure.
  poseur
  lit. "poser": a person who pretends to be something he is not; an affected or insincere person; a wannabe.
  pot-au-feu
  stew, soup.
  pour encourager les autres
  lit. "to encourage others"; said of an excessive punishment meted out as an example, to deter others. The original is from Voltaire's Candide and referred to the execution of Admiral John Byng.
  pourboire
  lit. "for drink"; gratuity, tip; donner un pourboire: to tip.
  prairie
  lit. "meadow"; expansive natural meadows of long grass.
  prêt-à-porter
  lit. "ready to wear"; clothing off the shelf, in contrast to haute couture.
  prie-dieu
  lit. "pray [to] God"; a type of prayer desk.
  prix fixe
  lit. "fixed price"; a menu on which multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed price.
  protégé (fem. protégée)
  lit. "protected"; a man/woman who 
caption: Pain au chocolat
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