page_title: Glossary of French expressions in English
section_title: C
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of French expressions in English / Used in English and French / C
caption_attribution_description: English: Caffè latte as being served in Oslo
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: ça ne fait rien
  "that doesn't matter"; rendered as san fairy Ann in British World War I slang.
  cache
  a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place (such as in an oubliette). Often used for weapons.
  cachet
  lit. "stamp"; a distinctive quality; quality, prestige.
  café
  a coffee shop (also used in French for "coffee").
  café au lait
  coffee with milk; or a light-brown color. In medicine, it is also used to describe a birthmark that is of a light-brown color (café au lait spot).
  calque
  a copied term/thing.
  canard
  (canard means "duck" in French)
  an unfounded rumor or anecdote.
  a leading airfoil attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing.
  a slang word for "newspaper".
  a piece of sugar slightly soused with coffee or cognac (or another strong alcohol).
  canapé
  A small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. In French, it can also refer to a "sofa".
  carte blanche
  lit. "white card" (i.e. blank check); unlimited authority.
  carte de visite
  lit. "visiting card"; a calling card.
  cause célèbre controversial celebrity issue.
  c'est la guerre: "That's war!", or...
  c'est la vie: "That's life!" or "Such is life!"
  Though either foreign expression can be used to say that life is harsh but that one must accept it, the former may imply a more deliberate cause thereof, while the latter, more accidental.
  chaise longue
  a long chair for reclining; sometimes misstated as "chaise lounge"
  Champs-Élysées
  lit. "Elysian Fields"; Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the broadest boulevards in Paris. Often referred to as simply les Champs.
  chanteuse
  '(female) singer', a female singer, especially at a nightclub, bar, cabaret, or diner.
  chargé d'affaires
  a diplomat left in charge of day-to-day business at a diplomatic mission. Within the United States Department of State, a "chargé" is any officer left in charge of the mission in the absence of the titular chief of mission.
  chauffeur
  driver.
  chef d'œuvre
  a masterpiece.
  cherchez la femme
  "look for / seek the woman", in the sense that, when a man behaves out of character or in an otherwise apparently inexplicable manner, the reason may be found in his trying to cover up an illicit affair with a woman, or to impress or gain favour with a woman. This expression was first used in a novel by Alexandre Dumas (père), in the third chapter of Les Mohicans de Paris (1854), in the form of cherchons la femme ("let's look for the woman"). The expression is found in John Latey's 1878 English translation: "Ah! Monsieur Jackal, you were right when you said, 'Seek the woman.'" The phrase was adopted into everyday English use and crossed the Atlantic by 1909.
  chez
  at the house of: often used in the names of restaurants and the like; Chez Marie = "Marie's".
  chic
  stylish.
  chignon
  a hairstyle worn in a roll at the nape of the neck.
  cinéma pur
  an avant-garde film movement which was born in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s.
  cinéma vérité
  realism in documentary filmmaking. "Vérité" means "truth".
  cliché
  originally referred to a printer's block used to reproduce type, compare the original meaning of stereotype. A phrase that has become trite through overuse; a stereotype.
  clique
  a small exclusive group of friends; always used in a pejorative way in French and, usually, in English. Often pronounced the same as "click" in British English.
  cloisonné
  an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects.
  commandant
  commanding officer of a base, depot or training area. In France, used for an airline pilot (le commandant de bord), in the Army as appellative for a chef de bataillon or a chef d'escadron (roughly equivalent to a major) or in the Navy for any officer from capitaine de corvette to capitaine de vaisseau (equivalent to the Army's majors, lieutenant-colonels and colonels) or for any officer heading a ship.
  comme ci, comme ça
  lit. "like this, like that"; neither good nor bad, so-so.
  communiqué
  lit. "communicated"; an official communication.
  concierge
  a receptionist at a hotel or residence.
  concordat
  an agreement; a treaty; when used with a capital C in Fren
caption: Café au lait
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