nouille
/nuj/feminine
The English word noodle translates to French as nouille.
The word refers to a string or flat strip of pasta or other dough. You can use specific terms to describe different types, such as Les nouilles sautées for stir-fried noodles, Les nouilles instantanées for instant noodles, Les nouilles de riz for rice noodles and Les nouilles soba for soba noodles. In a colloquial sense, calling someone une nouille can mean they are a bit of a fool or a silly person.
Meaning: string or flat strip of pasta or other dough (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The plural form of nouille is nouilles.
How do you pronounce it?
/nuj/
Did you know?
- The word nouille comes from the early word noudle, which was borrowed from the German word Nudel.
- The word nouille is used in the expression être une nouille, which can describe someone who is physically clumsy or lacks coordination.
- While nouilles is used for Asian-style pasta, French speakers use the word pâtes for almost all Italian-style pasta, regardless of the shape.
Examples in context
- T'as une nouille sur le pif.You have a noodle on your nose.This sentence shows how to mention a nouille on someone's nose.Tatoeba #1743945 by sacredceltic, translation #1743477 by belgavox
- Les ramens sont des nouilles de blé d'origine chinoise.Ramen is a wheat noodle of Chinese origin.This sentence describes the origin of nouille used in ramen.Tatoeba #3072561 by Blabla, translation #6695332 by Eccles17
- Tom mangea une soupe aux nouilles.Tom had a noodle soup.This sentence illustrates the use of nouille in the context of soup.Tatoeba #1692681 by Scott, translation #1485294 by Spamster
- Bien sûr, nous avons plusieurs types de nouilles. Quel type préférez-vous ?Certainly, we have several types of noodles. Which type do you prefer?
- Des nouilles de riz, s'il vous plaît.Rice noodles, please.
- 2 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Chloé and Lucas are deciding what to eat for dinner.
- ChloéTu veux manger une nouille chinoise ce soir ?Do you want to eat a Chinese noodle tonight?
- LucasOui, j'adore les nouilles sautées.Yes, I love stir-fried noodles.
- ChloéJe vais préparer une grosse nouille pour toi.I'm going to prepare a big noodle for you.
- LucasMerci, Chloé, c'est très gentil !Thanks, Chloé, that's very kind!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “noodle” translations and entries nouille, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries nouille, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
