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By Oatmilk
What is Verlan?
As we all know as language learners, learning slang is rather tough. Slang requires a lot of cultural insight and mastery of vocabulary in order to correctly use and understand when it should be used or not. Today I would like to talk about a rather infamous form of slang used in the French language, verlan. This slang is characterized by reversing the syllables or letters of a word in order to pronounce a new one, often changing the meaning of the original word. The term "verlan" itself is derived from reversing the syllables of the word "à l'envers," which means "in reverse" in French. It has now become widespread across France and other French speaking territories as a common way to express informality and casualness, while also creating new words with entirely new meanings. I quickly noticed how articles and videos online were often giving out cringe or outdated examples, or even sometimes non-existent in modern French. Even the Wikipedia page shows weird examples I literally have never heard spoken. This is why, in this article, I would like to present a more modern and hopefully accurate short guide to verlan, with examples that are used today. I will also provide an explanation of the various meanings and nuances they may have, their pronunciation and their origin. Keep in mind however, that this list will probably not stand the test of time and will be outdated at some point.
1. (en) Deuspi [dəspi] (adv) = Quickly, “real quick”
Coming from the English word "speed" but with its pronunciation adapted to French, it is used as an adverb for doing something quickly and a bit sloppily.
Je me fais à manger en deuspi. (I’m cooking something for myself real quick)
2. Chanmé [ʃɑ̃me] (adj) = Pretty cool, awesome
Coming from "méchant" which would typically be “mean”, here its reversed version is used to refer to cool stuff, stuff you really enjoyed, something better than good.
J’ai joué au nouveau Zelda, il est vraiment chanmé. (I played the new Zelda, it’s really good.)
3. Mif [mif] (noun) = Family
Coming from "Famille" which became "Mifa" and got shortened to just "mif". It just means family, but can also refer to your group of really good friends.
Moi et la mif on est parti au Portugual. (Me and the rest of the family went to Portugal.)
4. Téma [tema] = To look
Coming from "Mater" which would typically mean to check something/someone out, Téma only refers to looking, usually used in the imperative.
Téma mes nouvelles chaussures, c’est Nike. (Look at my new shoes, they’re Nike.)
5. Vénère [venɛːʁ] = Angry, pissed off, nice (rarer)
Coming from "énervé", its meaning doesn’t really change and just refers to being angry (except in some rare cases where it would describe something positively but I hear this particular meaning less and less).
Son chien à pissé sur lit, il est super vénère. (His dog pissed on his bed, he’s really pissed off.)
6. Ouf [uf] = Crazy, awesome
Well known example yet still commonly used therefore I couldn’t not mention it. Coming from "fou" meaning crazy, now referring to things you found surprising or awesome.
Je suis allé voir le film Barbie, c’était ouf. (I just saw the Barbie movie, it was really cool.)
7. Kéblo [keblo] = Stuck, fixated
Coming from "bloqué" also meaning stuck. It is usually used more figuratively when talking about something metaphorically stuck or you being fixated on something.
Au musée j’ai vu cette toile magnifique, j’étais complètement kéblo dessus, j’ai passé 20 minutes à la regarder. (I saw this beautiful painting at the museum, I was completely stuck watching it, and looked at it for 20 minutes.)
8. Ienb [jɛ̃b] = Good
Coming from "bien". This one doesn’t have as much nuance and is just a different way to refer to something as being good or nice. It is also often used to refer to sitting comfortably or just feeling good.
J’ai passé le weekend à rien faire, j’étais si ienb. (I spent the weekend not doing anything, I felt so nice.)
9. Chelou [ʃelu] = Weird, odd, suspicious
Coming from "louche" usually meaning sleazy or shady. This one is also well known but is one of the most widespread pieces of verlan nowadays. I can be used to refer to anything weird or suspicious.
Elle a pas arrêté de me poser des questions, c’était chelou. (She couldn’t stop asking me questions, it was weird.)
To end this article, I would also like to mention the verlan words that you can see online that are really cringe and you should avoid using if you don’t want to get weird looks from native speakers. These include but are not limited to "deban," "zarbi," "peuclot," "chébran," "tromé," "zikmu," "tof," "zyva," "teuf." Hearing these feels like a parent trying to be "hip" with the kids and say that something is sus or that your cousin is such a geek for liking video games.
About Oatmilk
23-year-old French queer person who’s been living in the Netherlands for a few years. Currently a master’s student in Social Sciences Research and part-time barista while studying Dutch and Turkish on the side. Loves playing video games, watching movies, and reading philosophy, sociology, or science fiction.
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