French Word of the Day: Quoicoubeh
If this French word confuses you, you are not alone - teachers and older French people are baffled by it too.
Why do I need to know quoicoubeh?
Because you won’t find this word in the dictionary, but you might want to know what it actually means, particularly if you have any French teenagers in your life.
What does it mean?
Quoicoubeh – roughly pronounced kwah-koo-beh, with the last syllable emphasised – is a new slang term popularised by a TikTok page called “La Vache”. Popular amongst French adolescents, the term is intentionally ridiculous sounding, like gibberish.
It is part of a word game French youth are playing where the teenager mumbles something with the hopes that their parent, teacher or authority figure will respond “Quoi?” (what?). Then, they can reply “quoicoubeh” as a silly expression meant to confuse the adult.
You can see the TikTok video below.
@majda_zup60 on suit la trend😂😂quoikoubeh #ecole#quoi#CapCut ♬ son original - Marocaine_zup
Recently, French newspaper Le Figaro wrote an article about how the word has exasperated teachers, who find themselves unwilling participants in this word game.
It appears that the nonsensical word will stick around for some time, as the hashtag for quoicoubeh has over 12 million views on TikTok.
Use it like this
L'adolescent a levé la main en classe pour poser une question, mais le professeur n'a pas compris sa phrase. L'élève a alors simplement dit "quoicoubeh" et toute la classe a éclaté de rire. – The adolescent raised his hand in class to ask a question, but the teacher did not understand his sentence. Then, the student just said 'quoicoubeh' and the whole class erupted in laughter.
Ma mère me gênait, alors j'ai dit quoicoubeh et la conversation s'est arrêtée là. – My mother was bothering me, so I just said some gibberish and that ended the conversation.
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Why do I need to know quoicoubeh?
Because you won’t find this word in the dictionary, but you might want to know what it actually means, particularly if you have any French teenagers in your life.
What does it mean?
Quoicoubeh – roughly pronounced kwah-koo-beh, with the last syllable emphasised – is a new slang term popularised by a TikTok page called “La Vache”. Popular amongst French adolescents, the term is intentionally ridiculous sounding, like gibberish.
It is part of a word game French youth are playing where the teenager mumbles something with the hopes that their parent, teacher or authority figure will respond “Quoi?” (what?). Then, they can reply “quoicoubeh” as a silly expression meant to confuse the adult.
You can see the TikTok video below.
@majda_zup60 on suit la trend😂😂quoikoubeh #ecole#quoi#CapCut ♬ son original - Marocaine_zup
Recently, French newspaper Le Figaro wrote an article about how the word has exasperated teachers, who find themselves unwilling participants in this word game.
It appears that the nonsensical word will stick around for some time, as the hashtag for quoicoubeh has over 12 million views on TikTok.
Use it like this
L'adolescent a levé la main en classe pour poser une question, mais le professeur n'a pas compris sa phrase. L'élève a alors simplement dit "quoicoubeh" et toute la classe a éclaté de rire. – The adolescent raised his hand in class to ask a question, but the teacher did not understand his sentence. Then, the student just said 'quoicoubeh' and the whole class erupted in laughter.
Ma mère me gênait, alors j'ai dit quoicoubeh et la conversation s'est arrêtée là. – My mother was bothering me, so I just said some gibberish and that ended the conversation.
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