How Do You Say "Seal" in French? (And More French Vocab)

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6 ways to say “seal” in French (including the one that went viral)
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We’ve all seen the “Hey Siri, how do you say seal in French?” TikTok—but does this hilarious video actually have any truth to it? Believe it or not, it does: the French word for "seal" is "phoque," and you can imagine how the pronunciation makes for some entertaining word play! We’ll walk you through this funky vocabulary word so you can know exactly how to say "seal" in French. We’ve even outlined some other French words that also mean “seal,” so you can flex your new French know-how in your next conversation.

How to Say "Seal" in French

“Phoque” means “seal” in French (as in the cute sea mammal). Like the popular TikTok by The Mannii Show implies, the word is pronounced as “fok” and sounds an awful lot like the F-word in English. This makes saying "phoque" in place of the F-word a popular joke online.

Section 1 of 3:

How do you say “seal” in French?

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  1. Yup, the viral TikTok is totally on the money—the French word for the adorable sea mammal is, in fact, “phoque.” [1] The word “phoque” (fok) sounds extremely similar to a popular English expletive word, but with an “oh” vowel sound instead of an “uh.” [2]
    • This is a masculine word in French, so you’d use masculine articles like “le” and “un” to say “the” and “a,” respectively.
    • Example Sentence: Le phoque est très mignon (leh fok eh treh mi-nyon): the seal is very cute.
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Section 2 of 3:

More Ways to Use "Phoque"

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  1. The viral TikTok is right about this, too. A baby seal is called a “bébé phoque,” which is pronounced as “beh-beh fok.” [3]
  2. In the TikTok, the user makes a joke that a mother seal is a “mother phoque-er.” Obviously, this isn’t the correct translation—you’d actually say “maman phoque” (mah-mahn fok), which translates to “mother seal.”
    • For example, “maman phoque et bébé phoque” (mah-mahn fok eh beh-beh fok) translates to “mother seal and baby seal.” [4]
    • To say "father seal," use "papa phoque" (pah-pah fok).
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Section 3 of 3:

More Ways to Say “Seal” in French

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  1. You know the rubber seal that goes around your refrigerator door, or the seal along the bottom of your door? In French, you’d call either of these a “joint” (jwin). [5]
  2. Have you ever seen those fancy symbols or icons that are sometimes used on fancy documents? In French, this is often called a “sceau” (so). A famous example of this is the “The Grand Seal of France,” also known as “Le Grand Sceau de France” (leh ɡran so duh frans). [6]
    • “Cachet” (ka-shè) is another word for seal or stamp in French. [7]
  3. You’d use this verb to describe physically sealing something, like a door or a window. [8] When conjugated, the root of the verb is pronounced like “sell.”
    • Example: “Je scelle la porte” (je sell la pawrt) translates to “I seal the door.”
    • The verb “colmater” (kol-ma-té) also means “to fill in.” [9]
    • The verb “fermer hermétiquement” (férmé ér-mé-tik-man) can also mean “to tightly seal.”
  4. The verb “cacheter” (ka-she-té) also means “to seal.” Similarly, the verb “décacheter” (dé-ka-she-té) means “to unseal.” [10]
    • Example: “Je cachette l’enveloppe” (je ka-shèt l’an-ve-lop) means “I seal the envelope.”
  5. In a story, the author might say that a character “seals” their fate after making an important decision. This type of “sealing” translates to “régler” (ré-glé), the French verb for settling on a choice. [11]
    • Example: “Elle règle son destin” (èl règl soh dés-tin) translates to “She decides her destiny.”
    • You can also use the verb “conclure” (kon-klur) to talk about finalizing or “sealing” an agreement with someone, like an author signing off on a book deal. As an example, “Je conclus l'accord” (je kon-kloo l’a-kor) translates to “I make the deal.”
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.frenchpod101.com/blog/2021/11/17/french-animal-words/#4
      2. ↑ https://mileshearn.com/2021/12/13/how-do-you-say-seal-in-french/
      3. ↑ https://lajolla.com/news/tiktok-trend-reveals-how-you-say-seal-in-french-worldwide/
      4. ↑ https://www.linternaute.com/nature-animaux/magazine/1060541-sauvons-les-bebes-phoques/1060553-bebes-phoques
      5. ↑ https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/seal-in-french/
      6. ↑ https://www.lawlessfrench.com/travel-and-culture/symbols-of-france/
      7. ↑ https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/31/cache-cachet/
      8. ↑ https://www.lawlessfrench.com/verb-conjugations/sceller/
      9. ↑ https://roa.rutgers.edu/files/474-1101/474-1101-FERY-0-0.PDF
      1. ↑ https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.uoregon.edu/dist/f/8175/files/2014/06/Kendris_501_French_Verbs_Barrons-13u1653.pdf
      2. ↑ https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/ver2.html

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