# Quebeckers: Québecois or Québécois?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 30, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881 "2003-07-30T12:33:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881/1 "2003-07-30T12:33:57Z")

</div>

Can any Quebeckers on here help me out with a work-related question? My English dictionary lists **Québecois** with only one acute accent, on the first e, but my French dictionary spells it with accents on both es. The two-accent version is the clear winner on Google (including the [Parti Québécois](http://partiquebecois.org/zones/www/), who ought to know), but there are also a lot of hits for the one-accent version - more than you’d expect for a simple mistake.

So is the one-accent version the preferred spelling in English, or is my English dictionary just plain wrong? Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881/2 "2003-07-30T12:47:18Z")

</div>

I don’t know how to make an accent in this medium, but I can assure you it is the second (with two acute accents). My wife is a professional translator and is paid to get things like this right and I just checked this with her.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881/3 "2003-07-30T12:52:15Z")

</div>

Thanks. I thought this was the case. So, chalk it up to another cock-up at Collins… I mean, I could see why they might want to leave off _both_ accents in the anglicised word, but just getting rid of one seems pretty dumb.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881/4 "2003-07-30T12:55:28Z")

</div>

I think it’s because there is only one in the province’s name. _Québec_, not _Québéc_.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881/5 "2003-07-30T13:16:42Z")

</div>

“Québécois” is correct; if it’s said out loud it’s obvious the two “e” sounds are essentially the same; very roughly, its “Kay-bay-kwaa.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quebeckers-quebecois-or-quebecois/191881/6 "2003-07-30T14:05:34Z")

</div>

Yep.

Francophone chiming in (franco-ontarian, though the family is from Quebec originally, of course)…

Two “accents aigus”, please 🙂

ruadh - think of it this way: french is like Irish… logic doesn’t apply 😉 (Come on, you guys toss funky letters in front of other letters depending on the word that came before… 😃 )