chleuh

See also: Chleuh

French

Alternative forms

• schleu, schleuh (Germanized variant forms, used when the word means "German")

Etymology

Borrowed from Moroccan Arabic شلوح (šlūḥ). Among the French military in northern Africa (Bataillon d'Afrique), it came to mean "one who could not speak French or even Arabic" and was later applied to the Germans, mainly during the Second World War.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃlø/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

chleuh m (plural chleuhs, feminine chleuhe)

1. (uncountable) Tashelhit; one of the Berber languages
2. (countable, derogatory, ethnic slur) a German; a kraut [1940s]

   Synonyms: boche, fritz

Adjective

chleuh (feminine chleuhe, masculine plural chleuhs, feminine plural chleuhes)

1. Shilha, Tashelhit
2. (derogatory) German

Further reading

• “chleuh”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.