Vietnamese words that came from French

Many everyday Vietnamese words came from French, including cà phê (from café), bơ (from beurre, butter), phô mai (from fromage, cheese), ga (from gare, train station) and phanh (from frein, brake). They entered the language during the French colonial period, from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, and they're still used every day.

Spotting them is fun, and they make a handy shortcut for English speakers who know a little French.

How French words were "Vietnamized"

Vietnamese is made of single syllables, each with a tone. When French words came in, they were usually broken into syllables, given tones and respelled with Vietnamese letters. Final consonants often changed or disappeared, and a syllable with no tone in French picked one up in Vietnamese.

So "chocolat" became sô-cô-la, and "fromage" became phô mai. Spelling varies: you'll see sô-cô-la, sôcôla and socola for the same word.

Food and drink

• cà phê – coffee (café)
• bơ – butter (beurre); also means avocado
• phô mai – cheese (fromage)
• pa-tê – pâté (pâté), the spread in bánh mì
• sô-cô-la – chocolate (chocolat)
• bia – beer (bière)
• rượu vang – wine; vang comes from vin, added to the native word for alcohol, rượu

More food words:

• kem – ice cream or cream (crème)
• xúc xích – sausage (saucisse)
• bít tết – steak (bifteck)
• cà rốt – carrot (carotte)
• súp lơ – cauliflower (chou-fleur)
• xốt – sauce (sauce)

Clothes and things at home

• áo sơ mi – shirt (chemise), with native áo meaning top
• cà vạt – necktie (cravate)
• đầm – dress (dame)
• xà phòng – soap (savon)
• búp bê – doll (poupée)
• ba lô – backpack (ballot)
• pin – battery (pile)

Getting around

• ga – train station (gare); also gas, as in ga xe lửa (railway station)
• ô tô – car (auto)
• xe buýt – bus (autobus), with native xe meaning vehicle
• phanh – brake (frein), mostly Northern; the South often says thắng
• ghi đông – bicycle handlebar (guidon)
• xích lô – cyclo, the three-wheeled pedicab (cyclo)
• ga-ra – garage (garage)

A Duma Meow example

One of the lines in Duma Meow is "Phanh! Phanh!" ("Brakes! Brakes!"), shouted as a cat loses control. It's a nice reminder that a French loanword can land in a modern cartoon gag without anyone thinking twice about where it came from.

The pattern: native word + French word

Notice how many loanwords pair a native Vietnamese category word with a French one:

• áo (top) + sơ mi → shirt
• xe (vehicle) + buýt → bus
• rượu (alcohol) + vang → wine

That's a useful clue. If one half of a word is a common native noun and the other half sounds vaguely French, you may have found a loanword.

North vs South differences

Some French loans are more common in one region. Phanh (brake) is typical in the North while thắng is common in the South. Ghi (gray, from gris) is mainly Northern. Usage also shifts over time, and some older French loans now sound old-fashioned to younger speakers.

French loans in today's Vietnamese

New borrowing now comes mostly from English instead of French, especially in tech and youth slang, like "crush," "chill" and "flex." The French words, though, are so settled that most speakers think of them as fully Vietnamese. For the English side, see Vietnamese words that sound like English.

How to use this as a learner

• Say the French word, then soften it into separate syllables with tones.
• Expect final consonants to drop or change.
• Check a dictionary before you assume; not every French-sounding word is a loan, and spellings vary.
• Try them out in context, like ordering a cà phê sữa đá.

Next time you order a coffee or a bánh mì with pâté, notice the French hiding in the words; it's an easy way to remember a dozen Vietnamese terms at once.