What does “doudou” mean in French?
Problème avec une commande de doudou
A1 French listening practice · French from France · Picked for people who know a little
Un doudou is the soft thing a small child carries everywhere: a blanket, a scrap of fabric, a floppy animal. It is not quite un nounours (teddy bear) or une peluche (cuddly toy) — what makes something a doudou is the job it does, not its shape. The name is baby talk, a doubling of doux, “soft.”
Psychologists call it an objet transitionnel; French families just say le doudou and guard it fiercely, because losing one is a household emergency. Adults borrow the word as an endearment — mon doudou for a partner — and une doudoune, the padded winter jacket, plays on the same soft, cosy sound.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A1 French listening practice video?
How common in written French
How common in spoken French
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · Lexique 3.83 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.