Skip to content

bilan

balance sheet, assessment

noun bee-LAHN Rare

Also means

outcome, toll

Usage Note

Bilan is used in both financial contexts (bilan comptable — accounting balance sheet) and general assessment (faire le bilan — to take stock of a situation). Le bilan humain of a disaster refers to the human toll (deaths and injuries). Déposer son bilan is the standard expression for a company declaring bankruptcy.

Examples

"L'entreprise a déposé son bilan."

Natural Translation

The company filed for bankruptcy.

Literal Translation

The company deposited its balance sheet.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore French by topic