French Language

  1. Home
  2. Education
  3. French Language

"la voyoucratie"

By Laura K. Lawless, About.com

Definition: thuggery, rule by thugs/hoodlums, thugocracy*

Ce qui s'est passé à Villiers-le-Bel n'a rien à voir avec une crise sociale, ça a tout à voir avec la voyoucratie (Nicolas Sarkozy, 29 novembre 2007)

What happened at Villiers-le-Bel has nothing to do with a social crisis; it has everything to do with thuggery

Aux yeux du peuple et d'abord de la jeunesse, les règles se dissolvent, les frontières du bien et du mal s'estompent. Sur les ruines de la Démocratie s'installe la Voyoucratie (Jean-Marie Le Pen, 26 septembre 1999)

In the eyes of the people and primarily of youths, the rules are dissolving, the distinction between good and bad is being blurred. On the ruins of Democracy, "Thugocracy" is taking root

Link: French news

*The word voyoucratie was coined by Gustave Flaubert in 1865, by adding the suffix -cratie (meaning "government of" or "rule by," as in démocratie and théocratie) onto the word voyou. American media translate it as "thugocracy"

Related: un voyou - thug, hoodlum, brat; voyou (adj) - loutish; la voyouterie (rare) - the acts, words, or morals of a thug/hoodlum

(click the little red + white graphic below to hear the Mot du jour pronounced)

Pronunciation: [vwa yoo cra see]Audio Link

Explore French Language

About.com Special Features

French Language

  1. Home
  2. Education
  3. French Language
  4. French Vocabulary
  5. Mot du jour
  6. Voyoucratie - Mot du Jour - Learn a French Word a Day

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.