mille
/mil/masculine
The French word for 'mile' is mille.
mille is a masculine noun used to denote a measure of length.
Meaning: measure of length (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
/mil/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often confuse the French word for mile (mille) with the French word for thousand (mille), as they are homophones.
Did you know?
- The French word mille comes from the Latin word for 'thousand', because a Roman mile was defined as one thousand paces.
- The French word for 'millimeter' millimètre contains mille because it is based on the Latin word for 'thousand', not the English word 'mile'.
- The word mille is a cognate of the English word 'millennium', as both are derived from the Latin root for 'thousand'.
Examples in context
- Je vis environ à un mille d'ici.I live about a mile from here.Tatoeba #2383476 by sacredceltic, translation #2377651 by CK
- L'île se situe à un mille de la côte.The island lies a mile off the coast.Tatoeba #956267 by sacredceltic, translation #44741 by sundown
- Ma maison est seulement à un mille d'ici.My house is only a mile from here.Tatoeba #13843 by sacredceltic, translation #29068 by CK
- La course fait 10 miles .The race is 10 miles long.
- Nous avons roulé mille miles en une journée.We drove a thousand miles in one day.
- 5 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hugo and Léa are discussing a travel distance in the US.
- HugoC'est à combien de distance ?How far away is it?
- LéaC'est à environ un mille d'ici.It is about one mile from here.
- HugoC'est assez proche alors.That is quite close then.
- LéaOui, on peut y aller à pied.Yes, we can walk there.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “mile” translations and entries mille, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries mille, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
