I’ve been recently translating quite a few marketing documents for furnishings companies from French to English and found some of the vocabulary difficult…this is because sometimes words mean something different in this context (e.g. confectionner has nothing to do with sweets and actually means ‘to tailor’) and because sometimes there are very specific terms in both French and English which can be hard to find…bearing that in mind, I have compiled a list of French furniture vocabulary, which I hope might help anyone else translating similar documents!
| French | English |
| Avec cheminée | A ‘cheminée’ is a flap used to help tuck in the duvet cover, popular on the continent, but doesn’t seem to exist in England? |
| Broderie | Embroidery |
| Brume de linge | Linen mist |
| Chanvre | Hemp |
| Confection sur mesure | Custom tailoring |
| Confectionner | To tailor |
| Cordon coulissant | Drawstring |
| Couture | Sewing |
| Descente de lit | Bedside rug |
| Entretien | Care (as in ‘care instructions’) |
| Galon | Braiding |
| Housse de couette | Duvet cover |
| Housse de coussin | Cushion cover |
| Housse de sommier | Valance |
| Housse de traversin | Bolster cover |
| Laine | Wool |
| Nappe | Tablecloth |
| Œillet | Eyelet |
| Sommier | Bedframe |
| Store bateau | Roman blinds |
| Tablier | Apron |
| Taie | Pillowcase |
Hopefully that was interesting/helpful for some of you!
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