Speaking French: in English Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aubergine

Better known to Americans as the eggplant, the UK calls this fruit an aubergine. The official definition of the fruit used in cooking, usually in savoury dishes, is a berry as it has no stone and a fleshy interior.

The French word seems to have derived from the Arabic name for the plant, "al-badingan", which apparently means eggplant in Arabic. We do seem to complicate our language unnecessarily sometimes.

Answer: Clique

A clique describes a group which isn't welcoming to newcomers - one which has formed itself into a group which excludes others.

The word in French originally referred to a noise or a clinking/clicking sound. It appears to have become combined with claque, which refers to a group of people hired to applaud loudly in a theatre audience.

However it arose, being a member of a clique isn't necessarily something to be proud of.

Answer: Souvenir

Souvenir, in French, means to 'come to mind' which is what a memento is meant to do. In English, a souvenir is usually something brought back from a trip or holiday to remind you of the places you visited. A memento is frequently used to remind you of a person.

Souvenir has been used in English since the late eighteenth century, when travel for pleasure rather than business started to become popular.

Answer: Milieu

In English, milieu is used to refer to your natural place - your comfort zone - in the world. It describes the culture in which you were raised and the people with whom you socialise.

The literal French meaning is 'middle place', or your surroundings, so the English meaning has been stretched from its origins. The word has been used in English since at least the nineteenth century. The second part, lieu, is even more common, forming part of the word 'lieutenant' and in the expression 'in lieu', meaning 'in place of'.

Answer: Armoire

An armoire is a large cupboard or wardrobe with shelves and secured by doors. It has been used in English for centuries, with an early version being 'ambry' dating from the fourteenth century.

The meaning of the word is unchanged from the French, which itself derives from Latin, referring to a closet or storage place. Even earlier, it could be used to refer to the storage of weapons - the similarity to armoury is easy to see.

Answer: Entrepreneur

Originally used in English to refer to a theatre manager who puts on shows, an impresario, an entrepreneur is now used to mean someone who sets up a new business with all the risks, financial and personal, involved in a new venture.

The French word means to 'undertake' and the English word 'enterprise' has the same roots. The use of entrepreneur in the sense of a business person dates from the middle of the nineteenth century.

Answer: Genre

This French word literally means 'kind or sort' and is used to describe a particular style in areas such as art, music and literature, among others. In France it is used mostly to refer to an individual style while in English it has a more general meaning.

Genre has been used in English since the first half of the nineteenth century.

Answer: Chauffeur

A chauffeur, or chauffeuse for a female, is someone who drives a vehicle to convey important people around, or can be hired for a special night out. A chauffeur might convey you to your wedding, too. The word has been used in English since the early twentieth century to refer to a paid, professional driver.

The derivation of the word is interesting, as it originally described someone who used heat. You may see the similarity to a chafing dish, used to keep food warm. Early motorists were nicknamed 'stokers' in French, i.e. a chauffeur, as early cars were driven by steam.

Answer: Silhouette

In an artistic sense, a silhouette refers to an outline portrait of the sitter's profile, which is then coloured in black with no details of the features showing. It has now been extended to refer to any shape - you can see someone's silhouette behind a curtain in a lighted room, for example.

The name derives from a person, Étienne de Silhouette, who was a French finance minister in 1759. Various theories exist regarding the use of his name including his apparent penny-pinching, but there is no consensus.

Answer: Faux pas

This sounds rather more sophisticated than the English version of 'put your foot in it' when you say the wrong thing or make a fool or yourself in public by not knowing which item of cutlery to pick up.

The French version means much the same thing, though, translating directly as 'false step'. According to some of the sources I checked, it has been used in English since the 1670s to describe a social blunder.