French word of the Day: Démoustication
démoustication
?
Because it's a vital summer activity, and it introduces a common French grammar motif.
What does it mean?
Démoustication
- pronounced as day-moose-tick-ass-ion - meaning 'de-mosquito-ing' or more correctly mosquito control/eradication.
The French word for mosquito is
un moustique,
and in the summer, you will see shelves full of
anti-moustique
products in the pharmacy or the garden centre. There are multiple outdoor products, including citronella candles and
plants that allegedly repel mosquitoes
.
Mosquitoes are becoming an increasing problem in France as warming temperatures have seen
the spread of tiger mosquitoes
(
moustiques tigres
), which can spread several potentially fatal diseases.
Which brings us to
la
démoustication
- this is usually used to describe widespread, professional mosquito control operations, carried out by either private pest control companies or government agencies such as the
Agence de démoustication
(mosquito control agency).
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The addition of the prefix
'dé'
to a word to signal an ending or an eradication/control is quite common in French, you may have heard of
dératisation
- rat-culling - or remember the
déconfinement
- the ending of lockdown (
confinement
) during the Covid pandemic.
Although the prefix exists to an extent in English, it's more commonly used in a casual or spoken way, eg "I need to de-flea the dog' - while in French it is formal and grammatically correct, as evidenced by its use in the official name for a government agency.
Use it like this
L'opération démoustication débutera la semaine prochaine dans tout le département
- the mosquito control operation will start next week across the whole département
Agence régionale de démoustication affirme que c'est un été idéal pour les moustiques à Paris
- the regional mosquito control agency confirmed that this is an ideal summer for mosquitoes in Paris
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