French Conversation · Level 45
75 words
French word
ghetto
Pronunciation
IPA/gɛto/
Meaning
- masculine nounslum
Example
Ce quartier ressemble à un ghetto.
This neighborhood looks like a slum.
More examples
Il a grandi dans un ghetto.
He grew up in a ghetto.
Core concept
A part of a city hemmed in by social boundaries, where disadvantaged residents are concentrated apart from the wider urban community.
Common phrases
habiter dans le ghetto
live in the ghetto
un ghetto urbain
an urban ghetto
Similar words
quartier défavorisé: A disadvantaged district with little social or economic support and harsh living conditions.
zone pauvre: A poor area marked by low incomes and inadequate facilities.
bidonville: A settlement of densely packed, makeshift homes.
cité: An urban housing estate mainly inhabited by low-income residents.
Definition in French
Quartier urbain où vivent en concentration des populations pauvres ou marginalisées, souvent séparé socialement ou spatialement du reste de la ville.
Word origin
The Italian word ghetto first designated Venice's segregated Jewish quarter in the sixteenth century before extending to other isolated urban districts.
Usage tips
- Ghetto often carries a strongly negative or stigmatizing sense, so quartier défavorisé is more neutral for a disadvantaged neighborhood.
Other meanings
- ghettonoun
Opposites
- quartier aiséaffluent neighborhoodnoun
Related words
- ghettoïserghettoizeverb
- ghettoïsationghettoizationnoun