You speak it every day, but do you know how many words there are in the language of Molière? Probably not, and for good reason: answering this question is not so easy. Even the institution best able to do this, the French Academy, is not capable of giving an exact figure.
Not all dictionaries are equal
We could just take a dictionary and count the words. This is a rather objective measure, but very insufficient, because each work lists different words. Thus, according to the Immortals, a “common” dictionary has more or less 60,000 terms, but the very specialized Treasure of the French language lists around 100,000 and some encyclopedias go up to 200,000 (including proper names).
A language is constantly evolving
Another problem is that every year words fall into oblivion, while new terms appear. Dictionaries adapt to each edition, but the words that disappear are still French words. This is without mentioning the slang terms and other neologisms that dicos decry despite their common use. What can we say, for example, about a man who has the seum because a mishto has shredded his moula in scred? What about the millions of French people who prefer to “upload” a file rather than “upload” it?
We don’t all speak the same French
In addition to slang words reserved for this or that social environment, there are tons of dialects and regional terms, whether in France or in the 28 other French-speaking countries on the planet. It’s difficult to list them all. And it’s not just geography that divides us: our expertise does just as much. Still according to the Immortals, the jargon of chemists contains more than 100,000 words just for coloring materials. However, from other scientific disciplines to the world of business including that of lawyers, each profession uses terms unknown to non-specialists.
OUR FRENCH LANGUAGE FILE
The verdict ?
If we stick to dictionaries published in mainland France and intended for the general public, we therefore obtain at least 200,000 words. If we include everything that is not, no longer or not yet found in these works, it is probable that French has several hundred thousand additional words.