In today’s lesson we’ll have a look at the French masculine noun coeur, which means “heart”. The word cœur has the œ letter (called l’e dans l’o or “the e in the o”) and can be tricky to pronounce.
cœur = heart
Pronunciation [k-uhr]
Coeur Meaning & Translation
Word origin
The French word cœur comes from cor (heart, mind, soul) in Latin. Interesting, the French adverb cordialement translates to “wholeheartedly” and “best regards” (when signing a letter).
Example sentences
The most basic usage of the word cœur is simply for the heart organ. This page on our site covers body parts vocabulary in detail.
Jacques fait du sport régulièrement et son cœur est en très bonne santé.
Jacques exercises regularly and his heart is in very good health.
Cœur also referes to the heart shape. For example:
Les enfants font des dessins de cœurs avant le Saint Valentin.
Kids draw hearts before St. Valentine’s Day.
The expression apprendre par cœur equates to the English “to learn by heart”.
Nous avons appris la chanson par cœur avant le concert.
We learned the song by heart before the concert.
The expression avoir bon cœur means “to have a good heart”.
Marie a bon cœur. Elle est toujours disponible pour aider les gens.
Marie has a good heart. She’s always available to help people.
Interestingly, avoir mal au cœur means “to feel sick” or “to feel nauseous”.
J’ai facilement mal au cœur quand je lis dans un bus.
I feel sick easily when I read in the bus.
More expressions with coeur
There’s a very long list of expressions using coeur which you can find on this WordReference page. Here are some more examples:
- Avoir le cœur brisé to be heartbroken
- Avoir le cœur sur la main to have a heart of gold
- Avoir un cœur d’artichaut to fall in love easily
- Avoir le cœur serré to have a lump in your throat
- Avoir un coup de cœur pour to be unable to resist something
Conclusion
Et voilà ! Now you know how to use cœur in French! Now check out our lesson covering the word chemin, which translates to “path”, “way” and “road”.
