lave-vaisselle
/lav.vɛ.sɛl/masculine
The French word for dishwasher is lave-vaisselle.
lave-vaisselle refers to the machine used for washing dishes.
Meaning: machine (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
This is a compound word consisting of lave (washes) and vaisselle (dishes or crockery).
How does it change in a sentence?
The word lave-vaisselle is masculine and is invariable in number, which means it does not change its form whether you are talking about one dishwasher or multiple dishwashers.
How do you pronounce it?
/lav.vɛ.sɛl/
Did you know?
- While lave-vaisselle is the machine, the person who washes dishes is called a plongeur, which literally means 'diver'.
- The root 'lave' comes from the Latin 'lavare', which is also the ancestor of the English word 'lavatory'.
- In France, the term vaisselle refers to all the items being washed, but the act of doing the dishes is expressed as faire la vaisselle, meaning 'making the dishes'.
Examples in context
- J'ai vidé le lave-vaisselle.I emptied the dishwasher.Tatoeba #6841749 by olivier, translation #6787789 by CK
- Il possède un lave-vaisselle.He owns a dishwasher.Tatoeba #861621 by Micsmithel, translation #1744330 by belgavox
- Nous avons un lave-vaisselle.We have a dishwasher.Tatoeba #6841751 by olivier, translation #4493699 by CK
- Je vais mettre les assiettes dans le lave-vaisselle .I'm going to put the plates in the dishwasher.
- J'ai besoin de liquide pour mon lave-plats .I need detergent for my dishwasher.
- 24 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Gabriel and Manon are in their kitchen.
- GabrielLe lave-vaisselle est cassé.The dishwasher is broken.
- ManonOh non, c'est dommage.Oh no, that's too bad.
- GabrielJe dois acheter un nouveau lave-vaisselle.I have to buy a new dishwasher.
- ManonOn peut regarder des modèles ensemble.We can look at some models together.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “dishwasher” translations and entries lave-vaisselle, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries lave-vaisselle, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
