French word

western

Pronunciation

IPA/wɛstɛʁn/

Meaning

  • masculine nounwestern

Example

Nous avons regardé un western hier soir.

We watched a western last night.

Illustration for western (western)

More examples

Le public a applaudi le western.

The audience gave the western a round of applause.

Core concept

A dusty nineteenth-century American frontier where cowboys, outlaws, and others meet danger, survival, and conflict.

Common phrases

  • voir un western

    watch a western movie

  • un western classique

    a classic western film

  • la bande originale d'un western

    a western's soundtrack

Similar words

genre: A category used to classify works of literature or film.
film: An entertainment work that tells a story through moving images.

Definition in French

Genre cinématographique qui met en scène des récits situés dans l'Ouest américain du XIXe siècle, centrés sur le conflit, la survie et des figures comme le cow-boy ou le hors-la-loi.

Word origin

French western is borrowed from the English noun western, itself formed from west plus the suffix -ern and used for a genre set in the American West.

Usage tips

  • Western is masculine in French, so the genre is un western and not une western.

Related words

  • westernisétransformed into a westernadjective
  • westernisationtransformation into a westernnoun

Word lists with this word