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bouillie

porridge, mush, gruel

noun boo-YEE Rare
Food & Drink Dishes

Origin: From bouillir (to boil)

Also means

pulp, mash (figurative)

Usage Note

Bouillie is a cooked cereal or grain porridge, traditionally given to babies as first solid food. Colloquially, en bouillie (turned to mush) describes anything reduced to a pulpy mess — les tomates étaient en bouillie (the tomatoes were mashed to a pulp). The expression c'est de la bouillie pour les chats ('it's cat gruel') means something is incomprehensible or worthless.

Examples

"La grand-mère prépare de la bouillie pour le bébé."

Natural Translation

The grandmother is making porridge for the baby.

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