huile
/ɥil/feminine
The English word "oil" is translated into French as huile.
huile is a feminine noun used to refer to liquid fat. When you want to specify the type of oil, use the construction huile de followed by the source or fruit. For example, huile d'olive means olive oil and huile de tournesol means sunflower oil. The term is also used in art. To refer to an oil painting, use the phrase peinture à l’huile, where the preposition à indicates the medium used.
Meaning: liquid fat (noun)
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
Because the word huile starts with a mute 'h', the definite article la elides into l’ in the phrase l’huile.
How do you pronounce it?
/ɥil/
Did you know?
- In French, the phrase mettre de l'huile dans les rouages literally means to put oil in the gears but is used to describe smoothing over a difficult social or political situation.
- The 'h' in huile is a historical artifact from a time when 'u' and 'v' were used interchangeably in writing. It was added to clarify that the 'u' was a vowel rather than a consonant.
- While huile refers to liquid fat, the French word gras can be used as a noun to refer to the fat of meat, creating a strict linguistic distinction between the two types of lipid.
Examples in context
- Je vérifie l'huile ?Shall I check the oil?This sentence is useful for offering to check the huile.Tatoeba #465317 by sacredceltic, translation #65176 by CM
- Qui a peint cette huile ?Who created this oil painting?This sentence is useful for asking who created a painting using huile.Tatoeba #3660104 by GB3, translation #6698743 by Eccles17
- Garde l'huile loin du feu.Keep oil away from the fire.This sentence is useful for giving a warning to keep huile away from fire.Tatoeba #1407100 by sysko, translation #324267 by CK
- J'ai besoin d'huile d'olive pour cette recette.I need olive oil for this recipe.
- Vous pouvez acheter de l'huile de tournesol au supermarché.You can buy sunflower oil at the supermarket.
- N'oubliez pas de changer le lubrifiant de votre moteur régulièrement.Don't forget to regularly change your engine oil.
- Ils utilisent un lubrifiant spécial pour les machines industrielles.They use a special oil for the industrial machines.
- Tu peux me passer l'huile d'olive, s'il te plaît ?Can you pass me the olive oil, please?
- 98 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Emma and Nathan are cooking dinner together.
- EmmaTu peux ajouter un peu d'huile ?Can you add a little oil?
- NathanQuelle huile veux-tu utiliser ?Which oil do you want to use?
- EmmaPrends l'huile d'olive, s'il te plaît.Take the olive oil, please.
- NathanD'accord, je m'en occupe.Okay, I'll take care of it.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “oil” translations and entries huile, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries huile, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
