Something my son said a few days ago got me thinking. He said the word “argent” (money) has the most synonyms in the French language. I can’t vouch that this is an absolute fact as it’s an incredibly hard thing to verify but it would appear to be highly likely from the research I’ve done. Using several dictionaries, Wikipedia and talking to my sons and French friends I’ve come up with a list of 102 words! So even if that’s not the most differences for one little word, it’s certainly a hellava lot.
{As a slight aside, taking the above photo got me quite nostalgic as I was transported back to travels around the globe with spare change in Singaporian dollars, Croatian kuna, American dimes, Moroccan dirham, Kenyan shillings, tiny Finnish markka, Swiss francs, Bulgarian stotinki, Italian lira and even one Chinese yuan, amongst others. Some of these currencies don’t even exist any more!}
But back to those 102 words for money, here they are:
Synonyms for “money” in French
argenté, argenterie, artiche, as, aspine, aubert, avoine, avoir, balles, beurre, bien, biens, biftons, bijouterie, billet, blanquette, blé, blanc, boules, bourse, braise, brique, brouzouf, bulle, caillasse, caire, capital, carbure, carme, cig, craisbi, denier, deniers, douille, écus, espèces, faf, fafiots, ferraille, fifrelins, finances, flèche, flouze, fortune, fourrage, fraîche, fric, frusquin, galette, galtouse, ganot, gen-ar, gen-gen, gibe, graisse, grisbi, japonais, laiteux, love, magot, maille, métal blanc, mercure, mints, mitraille, monnaie, mornifle, némo, numéraire, opalin, os, oseille, osier, pactole, papier-monnaie, pécule, pécune, pépètes, pèze, picaille, picaillons, pimpions, plâtre, pognon, quibus, radis, recette, ressource, richesse, ronds, schrapnel, sig, somme, sou, sous, soudure, talbins, thunes, trêfle, trésor, trésorerie, viatique.
Of these 102 words JF had heard of about 80% and regularly uses balles, braise, brouzouf, fric, pactole, pognon, radis, ronds, sous and thunes. I would say it’s very rare that he asks me if I have any argent, it’s always one of these 10 and even I use the word sous more than argent.
I wonder if any other language has as many versions for one word? I’ve always found French to be very rich in slang, much more so than English, so it doesn’t come as a complete surprise that there are so many synonyms for money, but over a hundred…that’s impressive! Chapeau! (As they say in French!)
French speakers have I missed any? Can you add to this list? And what about in your language or the language where you live? Can you think of one word that has so many choices? I’d love to hear from you.
Related Reading:
9 favourite French expressions
Radio FG and the use of an English swear word in French
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What a great article, sounds like your son is a very smart kid! Thanks for sharing.
This is fascinating! Thank you for the great post. I wish I had something to add but I do have a question… Can you tell from your experience what are the most commonly used examples by the ‘average’, middle-class people of all ages?
If it is very age-specific, then maybe you would be so kind as to list a couple for like 2-3 broad age ranges?
Thanks!! :-))
Sassine
this is really interesting! 102! x
We have a collection of odd loose change from our travels too.I didn’t know so many works for money.
So so so so many words for money. Wow! And to think, he knows 80% of those, that’s mad. So clever xxx
Wow, so many words meaning the same thing
Wow, this is quite amazing… so many choices to describe something so simple as money
I really miss all of the different currencies of Europe. Euros are so boring…
Now I need to find out ….
Jacqueline social classes and social situation play a big part, as most of these words are slang, particularly from the Paris area but many are regularly used by all walks of life too.
Yes it certainly adds a certain element of difficulty
French use slang all the time, it’s often why English speakers who’ve learnt French at school have such a hard time…the French spoken in France is rarely like the French learnt in a textbook.
Yes I’m sure there would be loads which is why I would love it if readers would help me out with them.
Good one Polo! 😀
Oh dear! You don’t need to know them all!!!
How could I have missed “liquide”, you’re so right, thanks Rosie! I don’t know about mints, I think that might be a coincidence because JF told me about it as a particular slang from his home town in the east of France. But it’s a good theory.
I like that one too Louis but never use it!
my favourite is pactole
I hadn’t heard of half of these sayings for money!
I’m wondering if different social classes use different words for money. I can see the generation angle but I also assume that depending on your social class as well as the social situation, the choice would differ considerably.
Learning a little more! Love it!
Wow so many words! I don’t know half of them so really interesting to learn more and love the nostalgic shot of all the coins too. I’d love to learn French. x
Wow, everyone talks about English being the hardest language to learn but that must make it really difficult for people for whom French isn’t the first language, especially as so many are in regular use.
What an interesting post. I would never have thought that French was big on slang at all! 102 words is a lot
Wow-what a lot of French words! I never knew there were so many for money.
Wow that is a LOT! Mind you I guess if you were to travel the UK and pick up all the various local slang words you would probably have quite a list- maybe not quite that long tho!
That is a lot of words for one ‘word’ – very interesting!
Wow i never knew there were so many words for money in French
Brilliant! What about a bitcoin in your photo?
Wow, that is a LOT of words, a bit like snow for eskimos!
wow I hadn’t heard of half of these sayings for money!
Wow I never knew there were so many names for it.
Very interesting
This is exactly why I am struggling to learn French! x
Blimey!
I like coins as souvenirs Catherine! And they just live in a drawer in the hall so I see them regularly…not hard to find.
No rhyming slang, but something called verlan where syllables are reversed. Verlan is the verlan word for l’envers (reverse): l’envers… l’en vers… vers l’en… versl’en… verslen… verlen… verlan
Thank you Rosemary!
You best make that 103 synonyms: what about “Liquide” ?
Of those you’ve listed I only use a very few of them, sous being a favourite but I am interested to see the word “mints” there. Does this have anything to do with the English word for The Mint where money minted?
Fancy keeping that collection of coins Phoebe and what’s more knowing where they all were to photograph them.
Ah, but does French run to Rhyming Slang? You’d better run down the apples and pears to find your dictionary!
Very interesting Phoebe. I’ll include this post in my blogger round-up next week! I haven’t heard of even half of them. Like you, I would probably use “sous” more often than “argent”.