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”.

• 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:

• School Subjects
• Math
• Science
• School Subjects

More resources:

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

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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.

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