imbécile
What does “imbécile” mean in English?
It means idiot or fool, used to insult someone's intelligence. It’s a straightforward put-down without any fancy undertones.
Literally “fool”
You’ll hear it as a direct insult, similar to calling someone a dumbass in English. It's fairly common in casual conversations, so don’t be surprised if it pops up often.
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Related French words
cave
2/5 · CoarseIn Quebec French, 'cave' is an insult meaning idiot or fool. It has no connection to its literal sense of 'cellar.'
teubé
2/5 · CoarseThis is a slang insult meaning someone is stupid or an idiot. It's a playful twist on the word 'bête,' which means 'fool.'
abruti
3/5 · VulgarIt's an insult for someone considered to be a complete fool. Literally, it refers to a 'stupefied person.'
con
3/5 · VulgarThis is an insult that roughly translates to idiot or arsehole. While it literally means 'vulva', that's not typically the intent when used as an insult today.
About this data
Swear Atlas is a source-attested, AI-curated reference — not a native-speaker-certified dictionary. Meanings and the 1–5 Burn Rating are approximate editorial assessments that vary with context, region, tone and speaker. Inclusion of a word does not constitute endorsement of its use.
The literal gloss is a short editorial translation to show word-for-word sense, not an etymological claim.
“Sounds like” is an English-friendly approximation of how the word sounds, not an authoritative pronunciation. Where shown, the romanisation is a conventional Latin-script transliteration of the original spelling.
Term attested via Viddexa SafeText (MIT). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.