Alohrs pas: of course not
An ahnvee: hunger; e.g. “I got an ahnvee for some boudin.”
Boudin: a kind of sausage
Are you getting down?: Are you getting out of the car?
Axe: ask
Ax: ask
Bag daer: back there
Bahbin: a pouting facial expression; e.g. “When I told him he couldn’t go fishing, he made a big bahbin.”
Bebette: a bug or a critter
Beb: sweetheart; darling
Bigarno: a snail; what the French call an escargot
Blow: a ceiling fan
Bonne homme: a drawn image or object resembling a male figure, like a GI-Joe for example
Boo: honey, sweetheart
Boscoyo: Cypress knee
Boude: pout, be angry; e.g. “He bouded all day for not being allowed to go fishing.”
Bouille: pudding
Buljoos, shtoons, and peewees: large, medium, and small marbles
Cahbin: bathroom
Capo: coward
Chaoui: Racoon (Native American)
Chat: Go away cat.
Chee wee: a cheese stick snack that is similar to, but predates, cheetos
Cho! Co!: an expression of astonishment; Wow!
Choosday: Tuesday
Chose: thing
Chot: a little, short pony tail
Clowzet: closet
Co faire?: Why?
Conson: underwear
Coo-yon: foolish, stupid; e.g. “Stop being coo-yon!”
Costeau: a male crab
Cro-cros: big, clunky shoes
Cunja: a spell put on someone
Dat: that
Defan: “sainted,” demised, passed away, dead; What a dead person is referred to as. Defan Papa (male version); Pauvre Maman, Poor Sainted Mom (female version).
De’pouille: anything or anyone who is a mess
Des: desk
Desses: desks
Dis: this
Domion: a peeping Tom; someone who peeps through windows
Drawz: underwear
Dreegailles: junk, trinkets
Each a one: one each
En d’oeuil: in mourning
Envie: a craving
Fah-yuh: fire
Fais do-do: go to sleep
Faut carot: A big, black Grasshopper
File: dried, powdered sassafras leaves
Freesons: goosebumps
Ga lee: an expression of astonishment
Garde soleil: an old-fashioned sun bonnet
Gep: a wasp
Go to bed!: Get out of here!; I don’t believe you!
Grand Beede: big, clumsy man
Gree gree: A curse or spell put on someone (from the Hatian word gris gris)
Gumbo: A soup made from a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and seasoning vegetables, which usually includes celery, bell peppers and onions.
Ha!: I don’t know!
He’s got the cabris: He’s got a wedgie (his underwear is stuck between his buttocks)
He’s got the gumbo: His pants are too big in the seat.
Hont: embarrassed
Hosepipe: water hose
Hot, hot: Very hot (many adjectives are used twice with the first one meaning very)
J’ai gros couer: I feel like crying.
Lee-lahs: little green balls that grow on certain trees, usually thrown at friends
Loan mo: lawn mower
Magazin: store
Mais: Well (begins many French and English Sentences)
Make a bahbin: pout
Make a bill: buy groceries
Make the veiller (vay-yay): spend the evening talking with friends.
Mamere: grandmother
Mashwarohn: a catfish
Meenoo: cat
Meenoo, meenoo: Here kitty
Moochon: a knub; a stump
Moustique, maraguin: a mosquito
Muspeulus: A Japanese pear tree
My eye! OR My foot!: Never!
My-nez: mayonnaise
Nanan, Nanny: Godmother
Nex: next
Noonie: a baby’s pacifier
Oo ye yi!: Ouch! or I’m sad
Papere: Grandfather
Parran: Godfather
Pass a mop: to mop
Passe a slap: Grande Isle; I’m going to slap you.
Passe: Go away
Pass the vacuum: to vacuum
Patate: potato
Patrack: an old, run-down truck
Peekon: a thorn
Peeshnick: to thump something with your finger
Peeshwank: runt, little person
Peunez: a stink bug
Pick up (something): put (something) away
Pirogue: a small boat like a canoe
Piss-au-lis: golden rod (a weed)
Podna: friend, partner
Pomee: to laugh or cry so hard that you cannot catch your breath
Poo-yee-yi: That stinks!
Porro: wart
Possede: a bad, mischievous kid (literally possessed)
Rahdoht: boring, never-ending conversation
Rocachah: beach burrs that stick to socks
ro-day: to run the roads and never stay home; wander
rozoe: a long thin reed used to make a buckblind (a blind used when hunting)
Saleau: sloppy, dirty old man
Saloppe: sloppy, dirty old woman
Seekahsah: a wasp
Slow the T.V.: turn down the volume
Speed up the T.V.: turn up the volume
Ste’pin: underwear
Sussette: a baby’s pacifier
Tawk: an onomatopoeia; a word that imitates the sound it stands for
Tete dure: hard head; stubborn
Texians: Grande Isles; All people who do not talk like us
T: used in front of any name; “T” means petit (little); T-Sam, etc.
The Island: Grand Isle, Louisana
The mouse: Grande Isles; a mouse that leaves money under the pillows instead of the tooth fairy
Tooloulou: a fiddler crab
Vay ya: spend time talking while visiting friends; gossiping
Vielle: an old woman
Vieux: an old man
Watch the slap.: I’m going to slap you
Weh: yes (from French oui)
What do now?: what do you want me to do now?
What time it is?: What time is it?
What you was doing last night?: What were you doing last night?
Where go?: Where do you want me to go?
Where put this?: Where do you want me to put this?
Where you at?: Where are you?
Ya Momma’s home?: Is your mother home?
Zeerah: disgusting
Zinc: kitchen sink
Zirondelle: a dragonfly
Sandra Hebert Byrd
J’adore votre site! I am half cajun but never exposed to the culture a retired teacher who went back to college and took Parisienne French amazed at the similarities and differences your side brought back many memories of moi francaisee grand mereComing from de Ritter Louisiana now that I am retired it is difficult to hear the language spoken thank you for your great effort
EditDavid Martin
Chaz T’ jet = Isn’t that cute.
EditProper spelling?
J. Rucker
You are a bunch of couyons if you think any of this mess is Cajun. This list is so full of made up crap it is laughable.
EditCarol Hayes
how to correctly spell vay yay, a nite time visit with friends and/or family.
EditDestinee
This isn’t cajun words and sayings! You can truly tell it wasn’t written by an actual cajun person. Why? Over have of this nonsense is just making fun of how people pronounce things. Also , “ha!” Means i don’t know pretty much in every language throught the world today. That is not a creole thing… Its a modern day thing. Speaking as some who is from bayou lafourche, Louisiana and raised in this culture and language…. Do not believe this article. Do not believe anything online actually. See that’s the beautiful thing about creole, we don’t care to teach the whole world our language. Why? So people like this Don’t turn around and make us look bad. We enjoy our privacy and do not care to teach others our language!! Get over it. We take extreme pride in our words, history and heritage. How was any other cultures ruined ? By outsiders coming in and trying to steal others culture. Stay away because real cajuns do not care to share anything with outsiders!
EditTony
Thing is what the dialect differs from one side of Louisiana to the other. I have a work buddy from Unice that says things differently than we do in Cut Off. A good bit of this was close.
EditDavid Martin
I’m related to the Richardelle’s and Cut Off on down has their own accent and colloquialisms.
EditPJ
Great list. How about adding these?…
EditMake Groceries = buy groceries
Save the Groceries, or Save the Dishes = put the groceries or dishes in the cupboards.
A.M. Bookdragon
gree gree is actually gris gris
EditAngie Robinson
Great list!
EditChristopher Daigle
Most of these are completely false. I live in the heart of cajun country. I did get a good laugh out of this however.
EditSamantha Cheramie
What bayou are you from? Because most of these are pretty accurate. I’m kinda thinking your not really Cajun.
EditChristopher Daigle
First off. The vermillion is a river which you know doesn’t start and end within the town or parish. Second, how exactly do you want to update a dieing language? It’s not done. That’s like trying to update sumarian to fit today’s butchering of the English language. Third, Lafourche has a complete different dialect due to the native American influence of the area. My final rebuttal is this. The area in which you reside is VERY influenced by creole due to its proximity to New Orleans. I’m willing to wager that you don’t speak the language as much as attempt to mimic it’s complex word structure.
EditClarissa Porche
Good point Chris!
EditKimberly Jackson
Spanish creole is black and spanish. French creole is black and french. They are very different. French creoles from Louisiana have a similar distant history to the Cajuns of southern Louisiana.
EditTheKnowerseeker
I guess if you’re talking about both groups being oppressed by those around them, then yes, the Cajuns and the *Black* French Creoles have “similar” histories; otherwise, they had very little to do with each other. Now, the *White* French Creoles, on the other hand, were involved with both groups, generally in a negative way, being the progenitors of the black Creoles and the first to oppress Cajuns before Les Americans appeared on the scene to oppress them all. (The white Creoles no longer exist as a separate group: First, they started calling themselves “gentile Acadians”, then they intermarried with Americans so much that they simply became American, or they falsely call themselves Cajuns now.)
EditRetro Thibideaux
Know seeker you got to quit saying we are oppressed. My family 2 generations ago lived in the bayou with no electric and no plumbing. Both my grandparents never had a social security number and a lot of the people from that time didn’t get them till later in life.
EditWe (my family) were looked down on as low class, uneducated, poor back the bayou trash, you name it. But we never thought we were poor. We never felt sorry or felt oppressed. We just worked hard. My grandpa sent my dad to school on a little boat he built out of a carved out tree till he was in the 4th grade. By then roads were available but they still had to travel almost 4 miles each way through the swamp to meet the bus. My dad graduated high school and got a job in the oil field where he prospered and raised my and siblings.
We have achieved more than him with professional degrees and fantastic lives in comparison to them. He always told us to stay honest, work hard, and always act like someone is looking and you will have character and integrity. That can’t be bought or taken from you. That was it.
IF anyone should feel oppressed it is me. My family had all things against them. We are not white either if that is where you are headed in your victim oriented mind.
Get on with your life, quit whining and blaming, work hard, love your family hard, invest in your children’s future. Thats the secret to happiness and prosperity. You will never get what you are looking for by complaining or protesting.
Thank you for reading.
Rae
Creole people are of french and Spanish descent before the La purchase, my ancestors are listed as creole in NOLA in late16-1700’s,people of color or just that, mulattoes or mixed race. But a TRUE creole is French and Spanish descent.
Editsangsue
I bought that book maybe 15 years ago, I love it.
EditJanis Vizier Nihart
About 95% of it came from my website. I grew up in Grand Isle in the 1950’s . Many of the words are no longer in use. That’s why I made my site, but 3 years ago, I got tired of people taking my work, so I just made hard copies of everything and closed it down.
EditJanis Vizier Nihart
yeah, and whoever rewrote my words misspelled some and put the wrong definition.
EditErica Disotell Gremillion
These are phrases that i grew up with and many I still use.
EditTony
I live on Bayou Lafourche just about as south as you can go. I’d say 75% of these are somewhat accurate.
EditDHartis
Most are true!
EditKenneth Morrogh
Cajun for coward is capon (a castrated rooster) not capo.
Editcajuncutie1978
neg means boy. it has nothing to do with girls. it simply means “boy”
EditChristopher Daigle
Neg is actually a derogatory term for black males Negress is for black females
EditSamantha Cheramie
That is the older meaning. The meaning has changed over the years to mean boy..
EditWhen you down the bayou and someone says “neg”, they say it to all boys. Black or white.
Mijaelle
how do you say cho co? is the cho similiar to chore?
Editcajuncutie1978
cho is the same as saying “wow”
Editcoonass 45
Some of these are not Cajun words or slang, at all….just regular English words or phrases with a coonass accent.
EditWillSpencer
Ahh… but to the simple computer program those are different words.
EditSamantha Cheramie
What’s that got to do with the true meaning of a word? You can’t take an English word and make it cajun.
EditCoon ass cajun
Boudin is not a sausage
EditBoudin is rice dressing, (or if your from up north- Dirty Rice)
Stuffed in pig instestion, for a casing
Ingredients are onion, bell pepper, celery, rice, ground beef or pork or both, and sometimes liver
WillSpencer
This is a difficult decision, because almost all references I check refer to boudin as a sausage. For example, Wikipedia says:
“Boudin (French pronunciation: [budɛ̃], from Middle French boud—cold cut) describes a number of different types of sausage used in French, Belgian, German, Quebec, Acadian, Creole, Austrian and Cajun cuisine.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudin
Editrob
It is a sausage!its a rice dressing stuffed in the intestine so that makes it a sausage.
Editcajuncutie1978
when you put the rice in the casing, it becomes a sausage… lol. are you sure you’re cajun.
Editct
Definition of Gumbo does not mean okra, Gumbo is a soup that contains Okra Chicken or seafood, Boudin, File, Water, Onions made with roux
EditWillSpencer
True! Fixed! Thanks for the error report!
Editnew2la
Had a guy say, mo be feet be 10. What does that mean?
Editcy migues
cursing in Cajun French…spelling off though lol
Editmrboudreaux
Its “fils putain” it means ” son of a bitch pronounced like “fee pee tehn” with the ‘n’ at the back of your throat
EditJonas Antley
Come see – come here for a second
Edit