The pandemic has influenced everything in our lives, including the language we use. Scientific jargon once reserved for medical personal now rolls glibly off the tongue on a daily basis. Well-worn words have fluffed out their definitions with new contexts while brand new terms have snuck into our lexicon. The pandemic’s impact on language is so great that the 2022 edition of the Petit Larousse dictionary will break with tradition and feature 20 more new words than usual. Ever a stickler for preserving the French language, alternate French expressions will appear alongside their popular English counterparts. However, I fear despite these efforts words like the spiffy “click-and-collect” and “cluster” are here to stay. Cliqué-rétiré and foyer de contagion just take too long to say and are not very cool.
In addition to the popularity contest between words borrowed English words and proper French expressions is a battle over Covid-19’s gender. The Académie Française proclaimed the virus feminine, while the public generally refer to Covid as masculine. The Authorities insist on the la Covid-19, because Covid-19 is an acronym (Coronavirus Disease 2019), which would be translated as la Maladie à coronavirus 2019. The public insist on le Covid-19, because virus is masculine. Of course, this is not the first time the French spoken in the streets does not line up with official protocol, and I am sure it will not be the last.
At any rate, here are some of the French words and expressions I never dreamed would become part of my everyday vocabulary:
l’attestation (f.) de déplacement dérogatoire sworn statement attesting to exceptional travel
l’auto-isolement (m.) self-isolation
le cas contact person who came in contact with infected person
la Covid-19 Covid-19
le confinement lockdown
se confiner to confine oneself/remain indoors
covidé(e) pertaining to Covid; to be infected with Covid
la crise sanitaire health crisis
le couvre-feu curfew
le déconfinement lockdown exit
se déconfiner to exit lockdown
le dépistage screening, testing
la distantiation sociale social distancing
en distanciel distance (adj)
le gel hydro-alcoolique hand sanitizer
les (f.) gestes barrières barrier gestures
l’immunité collective herd immunity
la jauge (distance) gauge, measurement
le masque mask
les mesures (f.) de sécurité safety measures
la pandémie pandemic
la quatorzaine 14-day quarantine
la réanimation reanimation
le respirateur artificiel ventilator
le skypéro Skype happy hour
le soignant healthcare worker
le taux de positivité positivity rate
le traçage tracking
le vaccinodrome large temporary vaccination center
le variant mutation
la visioconférence video-conference
le zooméro Zoom happy hour
For a full dictionary of French terms related to Covid-19 and their definition in French, see Henri Goursau’s website: https://dicovid19.com/?name_directory_startswith=C
Paris for Life 