Skip to content

escargot

snail

noun es-kar-GOH Rare

Origin: Old Provençal escaragol, of uncertain origin

Usage Note

Escargot is the word both for the garden snail and for the famous French dish of cooked snails with garlic butter. The t is silent. Avancer comme un escargot ('to move like a snail') is the standard expression for moving very slowly.

Examples

"Les escargots sortent après la pluie."

Natural Translation

Snails come out after the rain.

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