How Do You Say "Seal" in French?

What is the French word for seal?

The French word for seal is “phoque.” Yup, the viral TikTok is totally on the money—the French word for the adorable sea mammal is, in fact, “phoque.” This is a masculine word in French, so you’d use masculine articles like “le” and “un” to say “the” and “a,” respectively. “Le phoque” is the French phrase for “the seal,” while “un phoque” is the French phrase for “a seal.”

How do you say the word seal in French?

The word “phoque” is pronounced as “fok.” The word “phoque” (fok) sounds extremely similar to a popular English expletive word, but with an “oh” vowel sound instead of an “uh.” The popular TikTok highlighted these similarities, transforming the word “phoque” into something of a pop culture phenomenon among young English speakers. Example: “Le phoque est très mignon” (leh fok eh treh mi-nyon) translates to “The seal is very cute.” TikTok users aren’t the only ones poking fun at this uniquely-pronounced word! In a well-known episode of Family Guy, Peter quizzes Chris on his French by making him say a bunch of crude phrases disguised with pictures of seals.

Variations of the Word Phoque

A “bébé phoque” is a baby seal. The viral TikTok is right about this, too—a baby seal is called a “bébé phoque” (bébé fok), which is pronounced as “bébé fok.”

A “maman phoque” is a mother seal. In the TikTok, the user makes a joke that a mother seal is a “mother phoque-er.” Obviously, this isn’t the correct translation—you’d actually say “maman phoque” (maman fok), which translates to “mother seal.” For example, “maman phoque et bébé phoque” (maman fok eh bébé fok) translates to “mother seal and baby seal.”

Other Ways to Say “Seal” in French

"Joint" is the word for a seal on an opening. You know the rubber seal that goes around your refrigerator door, or the seal along the bottom of your door? In French, you’d call either of these a “joint” (jwin).

"Sceau" refers to a physical stamp or seal. Have you ever seen those fancy symbols or icons that are sometimes used on fancy documents? In French, this is often called a “sceau” (so). A famous example of this is the “The Grand Seal of France,” also known as “Le Grand Sceau de France” (leh ɡran so duh frans). “Cachet” (ka-shè) is another word for seal or stamp in French.

"Sceller" (sé-lé) is the French verb for “to seal something shut.” You’d use this verb to describe physically sealing something, like a door or a window. When conjugated, the root of the verb is pronounced like “sell.” Example: “Je scelle la porte” (je sell la pawrt) translates to “I seal the door.” The verb “colmater” (kol-ma-té) also means “to fill in.” The verb “fermer hermétiquement” (férmé ér-mé-tik-man) can also mean “to tightly seal.”

"Cacheter" means “to seal up.” The verb “cacheter” (ka-she-té) also means “to seal.” Similarly, the verb “décacheter” (dé-ka-she-té) means “to unseal.” Example: “Je cachette l’enveloppe” (je ka-shèt l’an-ve-lop) means “I seal the envelope.”

"Régler" means “to settle” something, like a decision. In a story, the author might say that a character “seals” their fate after making an important decision. This type of “sealing” translates to “régler” (ré-glé), the French verb for settling on a choice. Example: “Elle règle son destin” (èl règl soh dés-tin) translates to “She decides her destiny.” You can also use the verb “conclure” (kon-klur) to talk about finalizing or “sealing” an agreement with someone, like an author signing off on a book deal. As an example, “Je conclus l'accord” (je kon-kloo l’a-kor) translates to “I make the deal.”