pensionnat

boarding school

noun pahn-syoh-NAH Rare

Usage Note

Pensionnat denotes a school where students both study and live, often with connotations of stricter discipline or religious affiliation. The more common synonym is internat. A student who boards is called a pensionnaire. The word is encountered frequently in 19th- and early-20th-century French literature.

Examples

"Il a passé cinq ans dans un pensionnat catholique."

Natural Translation

He spent five years in a Catholic boarding school.

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

French Café Culture: How to Order Like a Local

In a French café, un café means espresso, one drink rents the table for an hour, and you must ask for the bill. Order coffee like a local with these phrases.

June 4, 2026 7 min read

FrenchNow

French False Friends: 25 Faux Amis to Avoid

French false friends look like English words but mean something else: actuellement is not actually, sensible means sensitive. Here are 25 faux amis to avoid.

June 3, 2026 5 min read

FrenchNow

Avoir or Être? Picking the Right Past-Tense Helper

Use avoir for the passé composé unless the verb is reflexive or one of ~16 DR MRS VANDERTRAMP motion verbs, which take être and force agreement.

June 4, 2026 5 min read

FrenchNow

Faire in French: To Make, To Do, and More

Faire in French means more than make and do: master faire vs rendre, weather and sports idioms, the causative, and the mistakes English speakers make.

June 4, 2026 6 min read