French Chemistry Vocabulary

vocabulaire français de chimie

On this page you’ll find a complete list of French chemistry vocabulary words. To say chemistry in French say: “la chimie”. Unlike high schools in North America, French high school students start chemistry at a much earlier age.

The good news is that almost ALL of the words on this list are almost the same as English. For example, the word for “molecule” is “la molécule” and the word for “atom” is “l’atome”.

Suggested Audio Course For All Levels

We have known Camille from Frenchtoday.com for a long time and strongly suggest her audio courses for all levels. She does a great job teaching the "trouble" areas such as pronunciation and verb conjugations. Click here to learn more!

chemistry la chimie
ion l’ion (m)
matter la matière
Periodical Table of Elements le tableau périodique
chemical compound le composé chimique
anode l’anode (f)
chemical kinetics la cinétique chimique
natural compound le composé naturel
greenhouse effect l’effet de serre
neutron le neutron
particle la particule
refining le raffinage
chemical elements les éléments chimiques
chemical bonds les liaisons chimiques
chemical reaction la réaction chimique
nucleus le noyau atomique
chemical substance la formule chimique
catalyst la catalyse
combustible combustible (adj.)
synthetic compound le composé synthétique
esterification l’estérification
to oxidize oxyder
petrol/oil la pétrole
acidity and basicity l’acide et bases
atom l’atome (m)
molecule la molécule
element l’élément
electron l’électron
acid l’acide
organic chemistry la chimie organique
combustion la combustion

Related lessons:

More resources:

complete vocabulary list – education.alberta.ca (PDF)
French chemistry glossary – lachimie.fr (French site)

Suggested audio French courses from Frenchtoday.com

Author
Recent Posts

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

Latest posts by David Issokson (see all)