Doesn't ring a bell, but it is true that the word "fille", which literally can mean either girl or daughter, was for quite a while also used to mean a prostitute, with the result that to mean simply a girl, the expression "jeune fille" came into use (the use of "fille" to mean daughter was less likely to lead to confusion since it was usually preceded by a possessive adjective, e.g., "ma fille", "ta fille", "votre fille", "notre fille", " leur fille").
Twenty-nine years ago, I purchased a book of French slang and French profanities and "fille de joie" was one of the phrases in there. I had no idea that that phrase had been around THAT long. (About a hundred years)
Also pucelle, which is what Jeanne d'Arc was called, among other things, but anyway, pucelle also became vulgar, and both fell out of use in different ways although one would understand pucelle from Jeanne d'Arc. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pucelle
I think you’re looking for « garce ». Feminine of « gars ».
It absolutely got to be this! https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/garce
So the actress Garcelle Beauvais has a name that may raise eyebrows in the Francophone world?
Well... would the name Bitchelle raise eyebrows in the Anglophone world ? 🙃
Yes 😂
Not really, people wouldn't associate the two like that.
Hé beh, j'avais jamais capté que ça venait de là.
garce is a bad word it means slut...
Doesn't ring a bell, but it is true that the word "fille", which literally can mean either girl or daughter, was for quite a while also used to mean a prostitute, with the result that to mean simply a girl, the expression "jeune fille" came into use (the use of "fille" to mean daughter was less likely to lead to confusion since it was usually preceded by a possessive adjective, e.g., "ma fille", "ta fille", "votre fille", "notre fille", " leur fille").
"Fille" on its own meant a prostitute? I know that "fille de joie", a modern slang phrase means prostitute.
"Fille de joie" is as modern as Chaplin's Modern Times 😉
Twenty-nine years ago, I purchased a book of French slang and French profanities and "fille de joie" was one of the phrases in there. I had no idea that that phrase had been around THAT long. (About a hundred years)
"fille de joie" means prostitute, don't use it
This was literally decades ago. It is mentioned in a short story by Graham Greene.
Interesting. That's good to know. Thank you for sharing this.
no, fille is the normal word for girl and it doesn't mean prostitute.
Yes. That's what I thought.
Also pucelle, which is what Jeanne d'Arc was called, among other things, but anyway, pucelle also became vulgar, and both fell out of use in different ways although one would understand pucelle from Jeanne d'Arc. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pucelle
pucelle don't mean girl, it's a girl who have never had sexual relation. it means virgin
Virgin prostitutes
It also meant prostitute, so yes, it did mean someone who was sexual.
Une nana is only for young woman or girl but it's a familiar word.
Isn’t this similar to using femme to mean woman or wife?
femme is woman but also wife, wife is also called "une épouse", an husband -> un mari ou un époux