vocabulaire français en marchant dans la rue et la forêt
A1 French listening practice · French · Curated for beginners
Why is a French fire hydrant called a “bouche”?
A bouche is a mouth, and French hands the word to openings that swallow or deliver something. A fire hydrant is une bouche d’incendie. The steps down to the underground are une bouche de métro. The drain at the kerb is une bouche d’égout, and the vent in a wall is une bouche d’aération. Learn the pattern and the rest of the street labels itself.
The literal mouth is never far away — le bouche-à-oreille is “word of mouth,” passed from one mouth to the next ear. The street compounds are worth banking alongside the plain pavement vocabulary that surrounds them: un trottoir (pavement), un passage piéton (crossing), un lampadaire (streetlight), une plaque d’égout (manhole cover).
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General French frequency
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Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s A1 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.