bande passante
/bɑ̃d pa.sɑ̃t/feminine
The English word bandwidth is translated into French as bande passante. Wiktionary also lists débit.
Meaning: measure of data flow rate in digital networks (noun)
Ways to say it
| French | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|
| bande passante | /bɑ̃d pa.sɑ̃t/ /bɑ̃d pɑ.sɑ̃t/ |
feminine |
| débit | /de.bi/ | masculine |
In a technical context, bande passante is the direct equivalent of the English term 'bandwidth' when referring to the range of frequencies or the capacity of a communication link.
Which one should you use?
While bande passante refers to the theoretical capacity of a channel, débit is used to describe the actual speed or rate of data being transferred.
How do you pronounce it?
/bɑ̃d pa.sɑ̃t/
Did you know?
- The word débit shares its roots with the English word 'debt', as both descend from the Latin dēbitum, meaning something owed or something given out.
- In French, using bande passante to describe a person's mental capacity or time to take on a project is an English anglicism and may sound unnatural to native speakers.
- The word débit is also used in French to describe the volume of water flowing through a pipe or the amount of alcohol sold by a bar.
Examples in context
- La largeur de bande du réseau est limitéeThe network bandwidth is limited.
- le débit de connexionThe connection bandwidth
- La capacité du canal de transmissionThe transmission channel bandwidth.
- je n'ai pas assez de vitesse de connexionI do not have enough bandwidth.
- La largeur de bande de mon fournisseur d'accès à Internet est très faible.The bandwidth of my internet service provider is very low.
- Pouvez-vous augmenter le débit de connexion de notre réseau?Can you increase the network bandwidth?
- La bande passante est très faible ici.The bandwidth is very low here.
- Nous avons besoin de plus de bande passante.We need more bandwidth.
- Cette bande passante permet de jouer en ligne.This bandwidth allows for online gaming.
Example conversation
Léa and Hugo are discussing their internet connection at home.
- LéaHugo, pourquoi la vidéo saccade encore ?Hugo, why is the video lagging again?
- HugoJe crois qu'on manque de bande passante.I think we're lacking bandwidth.
- LéaEst-ce que tu télécharges un gros fichier ?Are you downloading a large file?
- HugoOui, je vais arrêter pour libérer la connexion.Yes, I'll stop to free up the connection.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “bandwidth” translations and entries bande passante, débit, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bande, débit, CC BY-SA 4.0.
