French swear words

“bitch / slut”

Female dog; used as insult toward women.

“to get out, to bolt, to take off”

Another crude way to say 'to leave,' slightly less aggressive than 'se casser.' 'Barre-toi' is 'get out of here.' 'Je me barre' is 'I'm leaving.' The word implies leaving quickly, sometimes covertly — sneaking out of a boring party or fleeing a bad situation.

“for God's sake / goddamn”

Religious exclamation, mild blasphemy.

“shit / crap”

Standard exclamation for frustration, disappointment, or surprise. Literally excrement.

“scum, lowlife, bottom-feeder”

What you scrape off the bottom of a pot — the residue, the dregs. Applied to a person, it means they're the lowest of the low, the scum of society. It's a creative insult that paints a vivid picture of worthlessness.

“gross, filthy, nasty”

Slang contraction of 'crasseux' (filthy) that became its own word. It describes anything disgustingly dirty — a room, a person, a habit. Less intense than 'dégueulasse' but covers the same territory. The extended form 'cradingue' adds emphasis through its playful suffix.

“stupid / idiot / asshole (fem: bitch)”

Originally vulgar slang for female genitalia (cunt), now primarily means 'stupid' or 'idiot' in France. The feminine 'conne' is more offensive than 'con'.

“whore / hooker”

Prostitute. 'Pute' is noun form, 'putain' is interjection or noun.

“wet noodle, wimp”

Calling someone a noodle — limp, soft, lacking backbone. It implies someone is passive, useless, or just not very bright. Like 'andouille,' it's a food insult that's more funny than hurtful. A 'nouille' is someone you pity more than despise.

“disgusting, gross, nasty”

The go-to French word for expressing physical or moral disgust. It covers everything from a filthy bathroom to a politician's corruption scandal. Shortened to 'dégueu' in casual speech, which somehow sounds even more disgusted despite being shorter.

“coward, scaredy-cat”

Someone who's scared — the idea being that fear makes you fart. It's a playful, almost childish insult for cowardice. 'Péteux' has a gentle quality that pure insults lack; it's more teasing than attacking. The word is particularly common in Quebec French where it's one of the go-to words for 'scared.'

“to shit / to annoy”

To defecate; also used in expressions meaning 'to annoy' or 'bore'.

“stupid, moronic, lame”

Originally a medical term for intellectual disability, now a common insult meaning stupid or idiotic. Also used to describe situations or things: 'c'est débile' means 'that's stupid/lame.' Among younger speakers, it can almost be neutral — more 'that's dumb' than 'you're disabled.'

“go fuck yourself”

The maximally aggressive French dismissal. Where 'va te faire foutre' is the standard 'go fuck yourself,' this version specifies the anatomical route, making it considerably more vulgar. It's the kind of thing that ends conversations — or starts fights.

“fuck”

The raw verb form of 'niquer,' used on its own as a crude exclamation or command. Unlike 'baiser,' which has a polite meaning (to kiss) that was slowly corrupted, 'niquer' has always been purely vulgar — borrowed from Arabic and arriving in French already loaded.

“weed, pot, herb”

Verlan (French back-slang) for 'herbe' (herb), meaning cannabis. One of the most widely known verlan words, used even by people who don't regularly speak verlan. It's the casual, non-threatening way to refer to marijuana in French.

“asshole”

Literal anatomical reference. 'Trou de balle' is slightly more vulgar variant.

“loser, deadbeat, no-hoper”

Originally horse racing slang for a horse that has no chance of winning, applied to humans who are similarly useless or doomed to fail. It's dismissive rather than aggressive — calling someone a tocard is writing them off more than attacking them.