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‘WOKE’ HAS ENTERED FRENCH VOCABULARY IN ITS ENGLISH FORM. THERE IS A FRENCH EQUIVALENT, BUT IT HAS NOT REACHED MAINSTREAM USE, YET READER QUESTION: IS THERE A FRENCH WORD FOR ‘WOKE’? I HAVE

ONLY HEARD IT IN ITS ENGLISH FORM IN FRANCE. There is a French version but the question is interesting since, as a French person writing this answer, I would say it does not work. For

information, ‘woke’ and ‘wokeism’’ were included in the 2023 edition of the Larousse dictionary, both in their English forms – although the latter is spelt ‘_wokisme_’ in France. READ MORE:

NFT, HALLOUMI, WOKISM: NEW WORDS IN LAROUSSE FRENCH DICTIONARY 2023 FRENCH TRANSLATION UNSATISFACTORY Larousse specifies in its definition that woke is taken from African-American slang and

derives from the verb ‘to wake’. It was translated as “a school of thought denouncing any form of injustice or discrimination experienced by ethnic, sexual and religious minorities.”

Subsequently, _le wokisme _(wokeness) was defined as an “ideology from what is dubbed ‘woke’. It focuses on issues of equality, justice and the defence of minorities, which is sometimes seen

as an attack on ‘republican universalism’.” The closest French translation of this is _éveillé_ since it is the closest word to its African-American vernacular origins. _Eveillé_ has the

same two meanings in French as in English – woke and to wake up. It has a literal meaning of the end of sleep but can also mean being alert, aware or intellectually sharp. The verb

_éveiller_ means to arouse, to stir, to provoke a sentiment, a feeling or a reaction, as in _éveiller les consciences_ (awaken consciousness or raise awareness), _éveiller la curiosité_

(awaken curiosity). The translation has not been taken up much in France, mainly because _éveillé_ is no longer commonly used in this last sense. French people would favour _lucide _(lucid),

_clairvoyant_ (clear-sighted), _éclairé_ (enlightened), _sagace_ (sagacious) or _perspicace_ (perspicacious) to characterise someone aware. It is interesting to note that being _éclairé_

derives from _Les Lumières_ (The Enlightenment), a period of scientific, political and philosophical discourse that characterised European society in the 18th Century, in which France had a

prominent role in promoting philosophical concepts such as critical thinking. FOUGHT BY CONSERVATIVES _Woke_ and _wokisme _entered into mainstream media in the summer of 2020 when throngs of

Americans took to the streets to denounce the killing of George Floyd, an African-American killed by police brutality in Minneapolis. France piggybacked on the demonstrations, organising

its own under the Comité Adama, a collective set up to denounce the death of 24-year-old Adama Traoré following police intervention in 2016. An ideological importation of US issues,

defenders of _wokisme_ in France follow on from American activists and denounce the existence of systemic racism within French police forces. The concept, however, is less objectively

quantifiable since France forbids racial statistics. Larousse also pointed out that the term was seen by conservatives and critics as an attack on French universalism. _Wokisme_ is fought

fiercely by conservative newspapers and political parties, some drawing a similarity with fascism. “Wokeism leads to a lowering of the intellectual level because it is based, not on a desire

for discovery, but on the repetition of clichés,” said Nathalie Heinich, author of a book examining wokeism, to _The Connexion_ in its May 2022 edition. “It does not create individuals open

to new knowledge, to an enlarged discovery of the world, to the comprehension of ambivalence or the plurality of points of view,” she added. RELATED LINKS DEEPL, REVERSO: WHICH

FRENCH-ENGLISH TRANSLATION APP DO YOU USE? ‘MADAME MACRON RIGHT TO RESIST GENDER NEUTRALITY IN FRENCH LANGUAGE’ LA GO, BROUTEUR: DO YOU KNOW THESE FRENCH WORDS IN PETIT ROBERT 2023?