turquoise
/tyʁ.kwaz/feminine
The French word for turquoise is turquoise.
turquoise can be used as a noun to refer to the color or the gemstone, and also as an adjective to describe something having a pale greenish-blue color.
Meaning: colour (noun)
Which one should you use?
While the word remains spelled the same, its gender changes depending on what you are referring to. When used as a noun to refer to the color itself, it is typically masculine (le turquoise). When used as a noun to refer to the gemstone, it is feminine (la turquoise).
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
As a noun, turquoise is masculine when referring to the color (le turquoise) and feminine when referring to the gemstone (la turquoise).
How do you pronounce it?
/tyʁ.kwaz/
Did you know?
- While turquoise is used for the specific blue-green hue, French speakers often use bleu canard to describe a darker, more saturated teal.
- The word turquoise is an invariant adjective, meaning it does not add an 's' when describing multiple objects.
- The word turquoise comes from the French word for 'Turkish' because the gemstone was believed to originate in Turkey.
Examples in context
- C'est vraiment de la turquoise ? À ce prix-là ? Allons !Is this real turquoise? At this price? Come on!This sentence is useful for questioning the authenticity and price of the gemstone turquoise.Tatoeba #715789 by sysko, translation #697787 by papabear
- Dans la robe kabyle, on trouve plus d'une couleur. On y trouve, le noir, le bleu, le vert, le mauve, le bleu marine, le rose, le rouge, l'argenté, le turquoise, le violet, le blanc, le jaune, l'orange, et le gris. Elle est multicolore.In the Kabyle dress, we find more than one color. There are black, blue, green, purple, navy, pink, red, silver, turquoise, purple, white, yellow, orange, and gray. It is multicolored.This sentence is useful for listing various colors found in a Kabyle dress, including turquoise.Tatoeba #7047926 by Meksems, translation #7047938 by Meksems
Example conversation
Manon and Gabriel are looking at a new shirt in a shop.
- ManonTu aimes cette chemise ?Do you like this shirt?
- GabrielOui, mais je préfère la turquoise.Yes, but I prefer the turquoise one.
- ManonElle te va très bien.It suits you very well.
- GabrielMerci, elle est très jolie.Thank you, it is very pretty.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “turquoise” translations and entries turquoise, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries turquoise, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
