Francebidule
noun · Colloquial
A gadget or doohickey — a placeholder for a small object, usually one with a mechanism.
France
French Slang for Everyday Things
10 French slang terms for everyday things, each with its meaning, how it is pronounced and an example of it in use.
Informal names for ordinary things and ordinary activities — the domestic layer of slang that rarely makes phrasebooks but comes up constantly.
chelou
adjective · Informal
Shady, weird, off. Of people, places and situations that don't feel right.
embrouille
noun · Informal
Trouble; a falling-out; a messy situation. Chercher les embrouilles is to go looking for a fight.
galère
noun, adjective · Colloquial
A nightmare; a real struggle. Quelle galère! — 'what a palaver'.
+1 more sense
glander
verb · Informal
To laze about, to do nothing in particular. A glandeur is a layabout.
louche
adjective · Colloquial · LOOSH
Shady, suspicious, dubious. The standard-register word that chelou reverses.
machin
noun · Colloquial
A thingamajig; also a person whose name you've forgotten. Monsieur Machin is the French 'Mr Whatsisname'.
naze
adjective · Informal
Rubbish; broken; knackered. Of objects that no longer work and of people who are exhausted.
nul
adjective · Colloquial
Rubbish, useless, hopeless. Of things: c'est nul. Of people: je suis nul en maths, 'I'm useless at maths'.
truc
noun · Colloquial
A thing; a whatsit. The universal placeholder for an object whose name escapes you.
+2 more senses