Verlan is roughly similar to English Pig Latin, in that certain words are split in half, and the two componenents switch positions, but do not necessarily retain all letters (due to French pronunciation patterns). For example, if you have word [12], in verlan it will become [2-1]. The word verlan is in itself an example of this; it comes from the word l'envers (meaning 'backwards'). Verlan is, unlike Pig Latin, quite commonly used among young adults and even adults. Common verlan expressions include: Beur ou rebeu
n., A person of Arab descent. from arabe. ('Beur' is so commonly used that it now has its own Verlan form, 'reub').
Chelou
adj., Fishy, shady, suspicious. from louche.
Ienche
n., Dog. from "chien". "Les ienches, ca me fait flipper." (Pronounced "ee-ansh") Keuf
Policeman (not polite) from flic "Il est chelou ce mec ! j'vais le balancer aux keufs."
Kem
n., man, guy, dude, from mec.
Meuf
n., Woman, chick, girl. from femme.
Ouf
adj., Crazy, ridiculous. from fou. Used commonly in the expression "c'est un truc de ouf" ("that is some crazy shit").
Relou
adj., Not funny, difficult, something that sucks. from lourd, heavy. (the d is dropped in Verlan because the final d does not pronounce in lourd).
Ripou
adj., Rotten, awful, gross. from pourri
Ripou = un policier qui commet des actes graves illégaux
pl : des ripoux
Teuf
n., Party. from fête.
Venère
adj., aggravated, angry, pissed off. from enervé(e).
Common chat abbreviations
There are two general guidelines:
é can be susbstituted for all homophonic equivalents including "-ais", "-ait", "-es" (such as in the articles les and des), the conjunction "et" (and), and the verb "est" (third person sing. conjugation of être, "to be").
words that end in a silent -s commonly drop this s: such as pas ( pa), and vois ( voi).
biz
n., bisous, "kisses".
c
subj+verb, c'est, "it is".
ct
subj+verb, c'était, "it was"; imparfait (past) conjugation of c'est.
dc
conj., donc, "therefore, so".
dsl
adj., désolé(e), "sorry".
fok
exp., il faut que, "it is necessary".
ke
interr. and relative pronoun, que, "that".
ki
interr. and rel. pron., qui, "that" or "which".
koi
interrogative, quoi, "what"; also seen in pourkoi, "why".
mdr
exp., mort(e) de rire, "laughing myself to death", (equivalent of lol, laughing out loud).
mé
conj., mais, "but".
pr
prep., pour, "for".
ptdr
exp., peté(e) de rire, "bursting with laughter", (equivalent of lol, laughing out loud). stronger than mdr.
tt
adj., tout(e), "all"; also seen in the expression tout le monde.
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