karaté
/ka.ʁa.te/masculine
Karate in French is karaté.
karaté is a masculine noun referring to the martial art.
Meaning: martial art (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
When used as a subject or as the object of a verb of learning or practice, the noun karaté is almost always preceded by the definite article le.
How do you pronounce it?
The word has three syllables and is pronounced /ka.ʁa.te/.
Did you know?
- While karaté refers to the sport, a person who practices it is called un karatéka. This adds the Japanese suffix -ka to the French word to denote a specialist.
- In French, the word karaté is a borrowed term that originally meant 'Chinese hand' in its Okinawan form, despite being associated with Japan today.
- French speakers use the verb faire meaning 'to do' when talking about karaté, as in faire du karaté. This is common for sports that are not team games.
Examples in context
- Tom veut devenir karatéka.Tom wants to be a karate practitioner.Tatoeba #11904028 by zogwarg, translation #11904031 by zogwarg
- Je veux apprendre le karaté.I want to learn karate.Tatoeba #4535275 by pfpillon, translation #4531561 by CK
- J'appartiens au club de Karaté.I belong to the karate club.Tatoeba #13319 by Songe, translation #33550 by CK
- J'ai commencé le karaté il y a 5 ans.I started karate 5 years ago.
- Je suis passionné(e) par le karaté.I am passionate about karate.
- Pratiques-tu le karaté?Do you practice karate?
- Le karaté est un art martial fascinant.Karate is a fascinating martial art.
- 9 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hugo and Léa are discussing their weekend hobbies.
- HugoTu fais quoi ce week-end ?What are you doing this weekend?
- LéaJe fais du karaté le samedi matin.I do karate on Saturday mornings.
- HugoAh, c'est passionnant le karaté !Ah, karate is exciting!
- LéaOui, c'est un sport très complet.Yes, it is a very complete sport.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “karate” translations and entries karaté, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries karaté, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
