Beyoncé, flat earths, fast-fashion and angry men: What new words enter the French dictionary?

Every year, dictionaries the world over unveil the new words they are including in their annually revised editions.

Keeping an eye on new entries reveal how society is changing and the way in which current events reflect our anxieties and interests, but also shape our language and communication.

France’s Le Petit Larousse 2025 - due for publication on 22 May - has already disclosed its new additions.

The list of more than 150 words includes words that have made their mark in recent months on several fronts, including feminist discussion, anti-racist vocabulary, as well as words linked to the environment.

Here are a few examples:

• ‘Masculinisme’ - A movement that believes that men suffer from the emancipation of women.

• ‘Afro-descendant’ - A person of African descent, affiliated with the African diaspora.

• ‘Empouvoirement’ - An aid mechanism that is not charity, but a way of helping the person being helped to lift themselves out of precariousness or poverty.

• ‘Visibiliser’ - To make visible, by talking about a social phenomenon or a social group.

• ‘Désanonymiser’ - To remove something or someone’s anonymity.

• ‘Écogeste’ - An action or habit carried out to limit the environmental impact of our lifestyle.

• 'Mégabassine' - Water reservoirs used for agricultural irrigation and criticised by their opponents for monopolising the resource.

• ‘Agrotoxic’ - Refers to substances used in agriculture that may present a certain degree of toxicity.

• 'Fast-fashion' - Inexpensive (and highly criticised) clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.

“It seems that in the face of all these concerns, our society is looking for solutions, with words such as ‘écogeste’ or the new meaning given to ‘verdir’ (to become more respectful of the environment) and the expressions ‘zero waste’ and ‘eternal pollutant’,” Carine Girac-Marinier, director of the dictionaries and encyclopaedias department, told French outlet Le Figaro.

The dictionary also reflects the zeitgeist with, for example, new gastronomic uses (‘Kombucha’, ‘Kimchi’) and technological uses (‘Bot’, ‘Cyberattack’, ‘Cyberterrorisme’ ‘Femtech’).

There are also a number of trends, including the arrival of the terms ‘Platisme’ (the belief that the Earth is flat) and ‘Trottinettiste’ (a person who rides a scooter – or ‘trottinette’ in French), as well as cultural practices and hobbies such as ‘Webtoon’ (an animated cartoon or series of comic strips published online) and ‘Skate Park’.

There is also the arrival of numerous celebrities such as Beyoncé, Cate Blanchett, Virginie Efira, Omar Sy, Christopher Nolan, French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer (one of the most successful recording artists of all time in France), LeBron James, and captain of the French rugby team Antoine Dupont.

Le Petit Larousse 2025 hits the shelves on 22 May.