Vocabulaire de la maison : pièces et étages

What does “rez-de-chaussée” mean in French?

In a French building, the floor at street level is le rez-de-chaussée, shown as 0 or RC in the lift. Le premier étage is one flight up from it. British English works the same way — ground floor, then first floor — so British speakers can read the buttons directly. For Americans, the numbering is offset: what Americans call the second floor is usually le premier étage, button 1.

Rez is an old preposition meaning “level with”, from the same root as raser, and une chaussée is a roadway. So the compound is literally “level with the road” — which is why it names a floor rather than counting one.