# english words of french origin with an accent **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461 "2004-04-28T11:42:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/21 "2004-04-29T14:32:38Z")
> [@Trigonal Planar](#): > > How about “niche” and “clique”? > > It drives me insane when I hear people say it the non-accented way - “nitch” and “click”…sounds like the name of some kind of bug that lives in your armpits. I don’t get this. “Clique” in French is pronounced klik, just like in English. It doesn’t have any accent marks in it in French. “Niche” doesn’t have any accents either, although it is pronounced “neesh” in French and often pronounced either way (nitch or neesh) in English. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/22 "2004-04-30T04:26:41Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > I don’t get this. “Clique” in French is pronounced klik, just like in English. It doesn’t have any accent marks in it in French. > > “Niche” doesn’t have any accents either, although it is pronounced “neesh” in French and often pronounced either way (nitch or neesh) in English. The accents aren’t needed because the final e’s aren’t pronounced. The accent serves to tell you to say the e, as in liberté (otherwise it would sound something like “libert”). The other thing, the circumflex tells you there used to be an S following the vowel: Hôtel. Now, a french pronunciation is another thing altogether. But it isn´t a “French Accent” ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/23 "2004-04-30T11:27:08Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Slight hijack… so a youth hostel in France would be a hôtel? Nope, it’s an **auberge de jeunesse** which litterally means a ‘youth inn’. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/24 "2004-04-30T13:11:42Z")
Le Big Mac ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/25 "2004-04-30T13:21:31Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > The accents aren’t needed because the final e’s aren’t pronounced. The accent serves to tell you to say the e, as in liberté (otherwise it would sound something like “libert”). The other thing, the circumflex tells you there used to be an S following the vowel: Hôtel. > > Now, a french pronunciation is another thing altogether. But it isn´t a “French Accent” Hey Doobieous, I know how the diacritical marks work in French. I speak it pretty much fluently. I was commenting on Trigonal Planar’s remark when he said that “It drives me insane when I hear people say it the non-accented way - “nitch” and “click”…sounds like the name of some kind of bug that lives in your armpits.” I didn’t understand what he meant since 1) there are no diacritical marks in either of those words in French; and 2) they are pronounced the same way in English as they are in French, with the sometime exception of “niche,” which some people pronounce “nitch” in English. However, “clique” is pronounced the same way in both languages. I may be misunderstanding TP’s post: I assumed he was discussing diacritical marks (accents) when he might really have been referring to pronounciation (accents). ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/26 "2004-04-30T14:21:06Z")
Missbunny, indeed I was referring to the french pronunciation. klEEK vs click nEEsh vs. nitch The non-accented-pronunciations just sound gross. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/27 "2004-04-30T15:14:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Le Big Mac What do they call a Whopper? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/28 "2004-04-30T15:18:27Z")
> [@Trigonal Planar](#): > > The non-accented-pronunciations just sound gross. > **[Definition of niche | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/niche)** > > Definition of niche from Dictionary.com, the world’s leading online source for English definitions, pronunciations, word origins, idioms, Word of the Day, and more. > **[Definition of clique | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/clique)** > > Definition of clique from Dictionary.com, the world’s leading online source for English definitions, pronunciations, word origins, idioms, Word of the Day, and more. Gross as they may sound, _niche_ as “nitch” and _clique_ as “click” are correct. The French pronunciations are also acceptable. _Clique_ as “cleek” is extremely stilted to my ears, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/29 "2004-05-01T00:03:54Z")
Basically, I always use the accents when they make a difference to pronunciation. We don’t pronounce _fiancé_ and _fiancée_ “feeyonce” and “feeyoncee.” And we don’t pronounce _naïve_ “nave.” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/30 "2004-05-01T00:06:10Z")
(That’s also why I don’t put the accents on Montreal, Quebec, or metro – we don’t pronounce them Montrayal, Quaybec, or maytro in English.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461/31 "2004-05-01T02:43:16Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > …and _clique_ as “click” are correct. The French pronunciations are also acceptable. _Clique_ as “cleek” is extremely stilted to my ears, but YMMV. Interesting. _Click_ for _clique_ sounds odd to me, but I’ve become used to it. I hear it from my wife, but we come from two different places. At my high school (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), it was pronounced _cleek_. At my wife’s high school (Pueblo, Colorado, USA), it was apparently pronounced _click._ Perhaps this is one of those regional things? That’s our usual rationale for this situation; we have learned to stay far away from the “You’re not pronouncing \_\_\_\_\_ correctly” arguments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-of-french-origin-with-an-accent/242461.md?page=1)