French Word of the Day: Palmarès
This French word comes up a lot during award season.
Why do I need to know palmarès?
Because this term does not just apply to movie stars and pop singers.
What does it mean?
Palmarès - roughly pronounced pahl-mah-ray - is a French word that tends to pop up around award season, as it translates literally ‘winners’ or a list of winners.
Even though it may appear to be specific to the musical or cinematic world, it can be used in a variety of contexts to describe any group of winners or top choices.
That being said, you will see it used to describe the top 100 songs in France or critics’ favourite movies of the year.
For example, a French magazine might come up with their best recommendations for where to invest in property. They may title this article “le palmarès des villes où investir en 2024”.
Occasionally, the term is not used in a positive sense - it might describe the parts of the country with the highest rates of absenteeism as les palmarès de l'absentéisme.
A synonym for palmarès would be lauréats.
The term palmarès comes from the Latin ‘palmares’, which means ‘those who deserve the prize’.
Historically, palms were a sign of victory, and it still maintains this legacy in some competitions, like the top prize of the Cannes Film Festival which is called the ‘Palme d’Or’ (Golden Palm).
Use it like this
Je veux visiter les petites villes normandes dans les palmarès touristiques français. - I want to visit the small Norman towns in the top French tourism rankings.
Les palmarès du prix littéraire dédicaceront leurs livres au magasin demain. - The winners of the literary prize will sign books at the shop tomorrow.
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See Also
Why do I need to know palmarès?
Because this term does not just apply to movie stars and pop singers.
What does it mean?
Palmarès - roughly pronounced pahl-mah-ray - is a French word that tends to pop up around award season, as it translates literally ‘winners’ or a list of winners.
Even though it may appear to be specific to the musical or cinematic world, it can be used in a variety of contexts to describe any group of winners or top choices.
That being said, you will see it used to describe the top 100 songs in France or critics’ favourite movies of the year.
For example, a French magazine might come up with their best recommendations for where to invest in property. They may title this article “le palmarès des villes où investir en 2024”.
Occasionally, the term is not used in a positive sense - it might describe the parts of the country with the highest rates of absenteeism as les palmarès de l'absentéisme.
A synonym for palmarès would be lauréats.
The term palmarès comes from the Latin ‘palmares’, which means ‘those who deserve the prize’.
Historically, palms were a sign of victory, and it still maintains this legacy in some competitions, like the top prize of the Cannes Film Festival which is called the ‘Palme d’Or’ (Golden Palm).
Use it like this
Je veux visiter les petites villes normandes dans les palmarès touristiques français. - I want to visit the small Norman towns in the top French tourism rankings.
Les palmarès du prix littéraire dédicaceront leurs livres au magasin demain. - The winners of the literary prize will sign books at the shop tomorrow.
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