bougnoule

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Wolof ñuul (“black, to be black”), wu ñuula (“a person who is black”), fas wu ñuul (“black horse”), 1890. The original phrase is sometimes offensive in the Wolof language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bu.ɲul/

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

bougnoule m or f by sense (plural bougnoules)

1. (ethnic slur) wog; raghead (person of North African descent)

   Synonyms: bicot, raton, crouille, crouillat

   • 2005, “Thé à la menthe”, performed by La Caution:

     Jeune, j’ai le souvenir d’une madame Nicole / Instit’ qui pensait qu’un bougnoule n’était pas fait pour l’école

     I remember when I was young there was a Madame Nicole / A primary school teacher who thought that a wog was not cut out for school

   • 2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule [The End of Eddy], Le Seuil:

     À Amiens y a que des Noirs et des bougnoules, des crouilles t’y vas tu crois que t’en Afrique. Faut pas aller là-bas, c’est sûr que tu te fais dépouiller.

     In Amiens there's nothing but blacks, wogs and Maghrebis; you go and you think you're in Africa. You mustn't go there; you'll definitely get robbed.

Further reading

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