la
/bɑ̃.ljø/
Translation
suburb; the outskirts (of a city)
Word origin
From Medieval Latin banleuca, formed from bannus ('proclamation, jurisdiction') and leuca ('league', a Gaulish unit of distance). It originally meant the area within a league of a town's jurisdiction. English ban and league (the distance) share the same roots.
- Origin
- Medieval Latin
- Root
- banleuca
- English cognates
- ban, league
Grammar
Examples
.
He lives in the suburbs of Paris.
desservie .
The outskirts are often poorly served by public transport.
.
We grew up in a small, quiet suburb.
Mind the connotation, not just the translation. usually means the outer residential districts around a big city, and it does not carry the comfortable, leafy image that "suburb" often has in British English. Habiter en banlieue can mean a quiet commuter town or a housing estate with a reputation for social tension, so context carries a lot of the meaning.
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banlieue: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the French word "banlieue" (suburb; the outskirts (of a city)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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