English “-OR” to French “-EUR”

Bonjour! In an earlier post, we talked about English “-IST” words and how most of them can onvert into French “-ISTE” words. We also learned that most of those converted words are masculine. Today, we’re going to follow a similar concept by examining how most English words ending with “-OR” will convert into French words that end with “-EUR”. We’ll take a quick look at words that involve people and those that don’t.

Now, there are feminine versions for some of the French words below (e.g. the vendor = la vendeuse). However, we won’t get into that for today. For now, let’s just say that most English words that make this French conversion are masculine. We’ll revisit gender soon enough! For now, let’s keep things as uncomplicated as possible.

WORDS INVOLVING PEOPLE

Below are examples of “-OR” peeps who become “-EUR” peeps:

• the senator = le sénateur
• the doctor = le docteur
• the director = le directeur
• the author = l’auteur
• the conductor = le conducteur
• the educator = l’éducateur
• the vendor = le vendeur
• the decorator = le décorateur
• the governor = le gouverneur
• the narrator = le narrateur

And don’t forget the English words you already know:

• the amateur = l’amateur
• the chauffeur = le chauffeur
• the connoisseur = le connaisseur
• the entrepreneur = l’entrepreneur
• the masseur = le masseur
• the provocateur = le provocateur
• the saboteur = le saboteur
• the voyeur = le voyeur (scandale!)

WORDS NOT INVOLVING PEOPLE

For words that don’t involve people, most of them are feminine and I’ve included some examples below:

• the color = la couleur
• the horror = l’horreur
• the honor = l’honneur
• the rumor = la rumeur
• the interior = l’intérieur
• the exterior = l’extérieur
• the favor = la faveur
• the error = l’erreur
• the inferior = l’inférieur
• the terror = la terreur

MORE RESOURCES

The lists above offer a beginning – many more words exist that apply to each group. If you’d like to search for more words, WordbyLetter.com is a good resource for English suffixes. It might not be the most visually pleasing of sites but it gets the job done. Just type in the suffixes you want to see in the ‘Words Ending With’ field and the words will come-a-flowin’.

As always, feel free to let me know if I’ve missed anything or if you’d like to share anything. As a student myself, I appreciate any chance to learn!

À plus tard!

M. Matt