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French Word of the Day: zarbi

The Local France
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French Word of the Day: zarbi
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Another in our series of verlan words... and you might even be tempted to use this one to describe the French argot.

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Why do I need to know zarbi?
 
Zarbi is frequently used in everyday speech and protests and is a good example of verlan, almost a dialect unto itself of French slang. Using it might even give your French a little boost of street cred. 
 
Origins...
 
Zarbi is a verlan word, meaning that it is formed by inverting another word's syllables (for more on verlan, check out our recent word of the day vénère and our more in-depth analysis of this French argot).
 
In this case, that word is bizarre which is turned into zarbi as follows: bi - zarre => zarre - bi => zarbi
 
How do I use it?
 
Zarbi is the equivalent of saying 'bizarre', 'strange' or 'weird' in English. 
 
For example, you might hear J'ai vu un mec zarbi dans le bus. - I saw a weird guy on the bus.
 
Or, Il y avait beaucoup d'objets zarbis au marché aux puces. - There were many strange objects at the flea market.
 
 
 
 
 

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Anonymous 2019/06/26 07:15
For your information verlan is "backslang" in English

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