Cortège

Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. English words of French origin, such as ''art'', ''competition'', ''force'', ''money'', and ''table'' are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and English speakers commonly use them without any awareness of their French origin.

This article covers French words and phrases that have entered the English lexicon without ever losing their character as Gallicisms: they remain unmistakably "French" to an English speaker. They are most common in written English, where they retain French diacritics and are usually printed in italics. In spoken English, at least some attempt is generally made to pronounce them as they would sound in French. An entirely English pronunciation is regarded as a solecism.

Some of the entries were never "good French", in the sense of being grammatical, idiomatic French usage. Others were once normal French but have either become very old-fashioned or have acquired different meanings and connotations in the original language, to the extent that a native French speaker would not understand them, either at all or in the intended sense.

Used in English and French

A

; à la: short for (ellipsis of) ''à la manière de''; in the manner of/in the style of
; à la carte: lit. "on the card, i.e. menu". In restaurants it refers to ordering individual dishes from the menu rather than a fixed-price meal. In America "à la carte menu" can be found, an oxymoron and a pleonasm.
; à propos: regarding/concerning (the correct French is ''à propos de'')
; affaire de cœur: lit. a love affair
; aide-de-camp: lit. "camp helper"; A military officer who serves as an adjutant to a higher-ranking officer, prince or other political dignitary.
; aide-mémoire: lit. "memory aid"; an object or memorandum to help one to remember things, or a diplomatic paper proposing the major points of discussion.
; amour propre: "Self-love", self-respect.
; amuse-bouche or amuse-gueule: lit. "mouth-amuser"; a single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre. In France, the exact expression used is ''amuse-gueule'', ''gueule'' being slang for mouth (''gueule'' is the mouth of a carnivorous animal; when used to describe a human mouth, it is vulgarakin to "gob" although the expression itself is not vulgar). The expression refers to a small mouthful of food, served at the discretion of the chef before a meal as an hors d'oeuvre or between main courses.
; ancien régime: a sociopolitical or other system that no longer exists, an allusion to pre-revolutionary France (used with capital letters in French with this meaning: Ancien Régime)
; aperçu

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