French Terms of Endearment - Termes d'affection

French has all kinds of interesting terms of endearment, including a rather odd assortment of barnyard animals. Check out this list of French terms of endearment to use with your loved ones (both romantic and familial). For the most part, these all mean something along the lines of "sweetie," "darling," or "poppet," so I've provided the literal translations as well as a few notes (in parentheses).

French love language | Love language quiz | French terms of endearment


mon amour    my love

mon ange    my angel

mon bébé    my baby

ma belle    my beautiful (informal)

ma biche    my doe

ma bichette    my little doe

ma caille    my quail (informal)

mon canard    my duck

mon chaton    my kitten

ma chatte    my cat (familiar)

mon cher, ma chère    my dear

mon chéri, ma chérie    my dearie

mon chou    my cabbage, my pastry (informal)

mon chouchou    my favorite, blue-eyed boy/girl, pet* (informal)
*as in "teacher's pet"

mon cochon    my pig

mon coco    my egg

ma cocotte    my hen (informal)

mon cœur    my heart

ma crotte    my dropping (also refers to a small, round goat cheese)

ma fifille    my little girl (informal, old-fashioned)

mon grand / ma grande    my big guy / girl

mon jésus    my Jesus (when talking to a child)

mon lapin    my rabbit

ma loutre    my otter

mon loup    my wolf

ma mie    literally "my female friend," but used to mean "my dear/love." (This is a somewhat old-fashioned term contracted from mon amie > m'amie > ma mie. Note that mie also refers to the soft part of bread - the opposite of the crust.)

mon mignon    my cutie

mon mimi    my pussycat (informal)

mon minet / ma minette    my pussycat

mon minou    my kitty

ma moitié    my half

mon petit / ma petite    my little guy / girl

ma poule    my hen

mon poulet    my chicken

ma poulette    my pullet (informal)

ma poupée    my doll

mon poussin    my chick (informal)

ma puce    my flea (informal)

mon sucre d'orge    my barley sugar

mon trésor    my treasure

mon trognon    my (fruit) core (when talking to a child)

You can also hear many of these in this video: Terms of endearment.
Modifiers

You can add the word petit (little) in front of most of these: mon petit chou, ma petite chatte, etc.

You can add en sucre (made of sugar) to the end of some: mon trésor en sucre, mon cœur en sucre, etc.


Note that the possessive adjectives mon and ma (my) have to agree with the gender of the term of endearment - not your own gender nor necessarily that of the person you're talking to/about. Generally speaking, masculine terms of endearment can be used for men and women, while feminine terms of endearment can only be used for women.


Expressions with "love"
The English word "love" is found in many different expressions - learn how to translate them into French.

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