Usage Note
Patinoire is derived from patiner ('to skate') and the suffix -oire denoting a place. It can refer to an indoor or outdoor ice rink. Colloquially the word is also used figuratively for any very slippery surface: la route est une vraie patinoire ('the road is a real ice rink').
Examples
"Les enfants adorent la patinoire en hiver."
Natural Translation
The children love the ice rink in winter.

Free starter pack
Building your French vocabulary?
Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.
Related Words
Explore French by topic
FrenchNow
7 min read