French Cooking Vocabulary

Here are French words for cooking to start with: cuisiner (cook), couper (cut), couteau (knife), four (oven). Below are 40 words (A1–C1) with their English translations and part of speech, across 5 themed lists.

A cook plating pasta with tomato sauce in a kitchen
Photo: ayindeabdulmajeed44

Cooking Basics

A1–A2
EnglishFrenchTypeLevel
cookcuisinerverbA1
cutcouperverbA1
knifecouteaunounA1
boilfaire bouillirverbA2
bowlbolnounA2
ovenfournounA2
panpoêlenounA2
stovecuisinièrenounA2

The rest of this pack is in the app

Cooking Intermediate

A2–B1
EnglishFrenchTypeLevel
bakecuire au fourverbA2
pourverserverbA2
preparepréparerverbA2
rawcruadjA2
smokefumerverbA2
flambéflamberverbB1
food preparationpréparation des alimentsnounB1
fryfrireverbB1

Cooking Advanced

B1–C1
EnglishFrenchTypeLevel
reductionréductionnounB1
blanchblanchirverbC1
caramelizecaraméliserverbC1
culinary techniquetechnique culinairenounC1
dehydrationdéshydratationnounC1
emulsifyémulsionnerverbC1
marinademarinadenounC1
simmermijoterverbC1

More from this pack waits in the app

Cooking Techniques

B1
EnglishFrenchTypeLevel
to foldincorporerverbB1
to marinatefaire marinerverbB1
to reduceréduireverbB1
to sautéfaire sauterverbB1
to seasonassaisonnerverbB1
to simmerlaisser mijoterverbB1
to strainégoutterverbB1
to whiskfouetterverbB1

Kitchen Tools

A2–B1
EnglishFrenchTypeLevel
measuring cupverre doseurnounA2
measuring spooncuillère doseusenounA2
timerminuteurnounA2
graterrâpenounB1
ladlelouchenounB1
peeleréplucheurnounB1
spatulaspatulenounB1
tongspincesnounB1

Keep going with this pack in the app

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

A sample of the A1–C1 words. The rest are in the app

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

These lists show a sample of the A1–C1 words for cooking. The packs in Watch Your Language hold more and reach the advanced levels, along with every other topic.

The app shows them to you a few at a time, in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting.

Common questions

Which French words should I learn for cooking?

You could start with words like cuisiner (cook), couper (cut), couteau (knife), four (oven). This page lists 40 French words for cooking (A1–C1), each with its English translation and part of speech.

How can I remember these French words?

Reading a list once is rarely enough. Watch Your Language shows French words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and schedules repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

Are these word lists free?

Yes. The lists on this page are free to read, with no sign-up. The app holds more words for each topic.

More French word lists