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French Word of the Day: Pécheur

Why do I need to know pécheur? Because you don't want to mix up this French word with its similar looking cousin. What does it mean? Pécheur - roughly pronounced pay-sure - is an easy one to confuse. It means 'sinner' (yes, in the Biblical sense). Confusingly, it looks just like the word for fisherman ( pêcheur ), note the different accent on the first 'e'. When it comes to pronunciation, they are identical. Usually, you can figure out the difference based on context clues, but if you happen to be sitting in the pews of a French church listening to the Bible story about Jesus calling his disciples to be 'fishers of men' … let's just say you might be scratching your head a little. Advertisement Officially, you can tell the two words apart based on the accent over the 'e'. If you see the accent circonflexe (ê) then that means you are talking about a fisherman. Similarly, la pêche refers to fishing, except when it means a peach ( une pêche ). In contrast, the accent aigu (é) tells us the person in question is a sinner, or a person who has committed un péché (a sin). There are plenty of expressions in daily life that come from the word for sinner, but when you first hear them you might be confused why people are randomly discussing marine life. For example, a péché mignon is not a rare-cooked fish, but rather a small, harmless sin. You might call this a guilty pleasure in English. There is also the expression péché contre le bon goût (a sin against good taste, or a crime against good taste). Use it like this Le prêtre a dit que tout le monde naît pécheur. - The priest said that everyone is born a sinner. L'Église dit que même si les gens sont des pécheurs, il y a sept péchés capitaux dont il faut se méfier. - The Church says that even though people are sinners, there are still seven deadly sins to watch out for.