How to Say "Perfidious" in French

perfide

/pɛʁ.fid/

The English phrase "perfidious" is translated into French as perfide.

perfide is used to describe someone who is deceitful and untrustworthy.

How do you pronounce it?

The word has two syllables: /pɛʁ.fid/.

The idiom Perfide Albion is a famous historical idiom used to characterize Great Britain as deceitful in international relations.

In French, the concept of betrayal is so nuanced that perfide is distinct from traître, which describes the person as a 'traitor' rather than focusing on their deceitful nature.
In French literature, perfide is frequently associated with the image of a serpent, reflecting a cultural tie between betrayal and the 'serpent's tongue'.
The Latin root of perfide consists of 'per', meaning 'through' or 'utterly', and 'fides', meaning 'faith', literally translating to 'breaking faith completely'.

Perfide Albion !
Perfidious Albion!
This is useful for seeing the idiom Perfide Albion.
Tatoeba #10687551 by AutoBot, translation #10687552 by AutoBot
La manière la plus perfide de nuire à une cause consiste à la défendre délibérément avec de faux arguments.
The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.
This sentence shows how to describe a way of harming a cause as perfide.
Tatoeba #4103 by TRANG, translation #2259 by Dejo
Son comportement est vraiment traître .
His behavior is truly perfidious.
Je ne peux pas croire qu'il soit aussi fourbe .
I can't believe he's so perfidious.

Emma and Lucas are discussing a former colleague who betrayed their team.

Emma

Il a été vraiment perfide avec nous.
He was truly perfidious to us.
Lucas

Oui, son comportement était très perfide.
Yes, his behavior was very deceitful.
Emma

Je ne lui ferai plus jamais confiance.
I will never trust him again.
Lucas

Tu as bien raison, Emma.
You are absolutely right, Emma.

Sources

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