page_title: Glossary of French expressions in English
section_title: T
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of French expressions in English / Used in English and French / T
caption_attribution_description: Trou de loup -- a booby trap consisting of a concealed conical pit with a sharpened stake at the bottom
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: tableau
  chalkboard. The meaning is broader in French: all types of board (chalkboard, whiteboard, notice board ...). Refers also to a painting (see tableau vivant, below) or a table (chart).
  tableau vivant
  lit. "living picture"; the term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.
  tenné
  orange-brown, "rust" colour, not commonly used outside heraldic emblazoning.
  tête-à-tête
  lit. "head to head"; an intimate get-together or private conversation between two people.
  toilette
  the process of dressing or grooming. Also refers in French, when plural (les toilettes), to the toilet room.
  torsades de pointes
  lit. "twisting around a point", used to describe a particular type of heart rhythm.
  touché
  lit. "touched" or "hit!": acknowledgment of an effective counterpoint or verbal riposte; comes from terminology in the sport of fencing. Not understandable in modern French, as "touché" means "emotionally touched".
  tour de force (also tour-de-force)
  lit. "feat of strength": a masterly or brilliant stroke, creation, effect, or accomplishment.
  tout court
  lit. "all short": typically used in philosophy to mean "nothing else", in contrast to a more detailed or extravagant alternative. For instance, "Kant does not believe that morality derives from practical reason as applied to moral ends, but from practical reason tout court".
  tout de suite
  right now, immediately. Often mangled as "toot sweet".
  tranche
  lit. "slice": one of several different classes of securities involved a single financial transaction.
  triage
  during a medical emergency or disaster, the process of determining the priority of medical treatment or transportation based on the severity of the patient's condition. In recent years, in British English usage, the term has also been used in the sense of to screen or address something at the point of contact, before it requires escalation.
  tricoteuse
  a woman who knits and gossips; from the women who knitted and sewed while watching executions of prisoners of the French Revolution.
  trompe-l'œil
  lit. "trick the eye"; photographic realism in fine-art painting or decorative painting in a home.
  trou de loup
  lit. "wolf hole"; a kind of booby trap.
caption: Trou de loup
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