Advertisement

French word of the day: Shit

The Local
The Local - [email protected] • 7 Dec, 2020 Updated Mon 7 Dec 2020 11:58 CEST
French word of the day: Shit

In France, this means something quite different than the English version.

Advertisement

Why do I need to know shit?

Because it's key French slang that will improve your street cred in France and also help you avoid embarrassing misunderstandings.

What does it mean?

While shit can be used the same way in French as in English - so to replace zut or merde to say 'damn' - it's mostly associated with drugs.

So if someone comes up to you in the street and asks you Vous cherchez du shit? they're not offering to show you where the nearest toilet is.

Du shit is French slang for 'cannabis' or 'hashish'. 

Strictly speaking there are differences between these terms depending on how the drug is served and prepared. Shit refers to hashish that is 'impure', so generally mixed with other ingredients (and therefore of poorer quality than the real deal). In other words, c'est de la merde - it's shit.

In French it's pronounced more like sheeeeet. 

Cannabis is actually illegal in France, although that doesn't mean you  won't see (and smell) people smoking it on the street.

Advertisement

Use it like this

Tu fumes du shit? - Do you smoke weed? 

Elle était défoncée. Je ne sais pas ce qu'elle avait fumé mais ce n'était pas du shit. - She was sky high. I don't know what she had smoked but it wasn't weed.

Les policiers l'ont contrôlé, il avait une barrette de shit dans son sac. - The police stopped him and he had a strip of weed in his backpack.

Synonyms

Cannabis - cannabis

Haschish - hashish

Beuh - weed

Weed - weed

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

[email protected] 2020/12/11 08:58
Shit was the street name for cannabis in U.K. and USA in the sixties. The French just adopted it.
[email protected] 2020/12/07 17:50
Improve our street cred or get us arrested?

See Also