A belgicism is a word, expression, or turn of phrase that is unique to or associated with Belgian French. Even though the French spoken in Belgium is closer to the French spoken in France than the French spoken by Québécois, there are a considerable number of words and phrases that have disappeared from common usage in other Francophone nations that remain common in everyday Belgian speech. Certain words used in Belgium that are not used in Standard French are also found in northern France and in Switzerland, for example chicon ('endive') and septante ('seventy', unlike the vigesimal soixante-dix, or 'sixty-ten', used in France.) In these cases, these words are sometimes not classified as being solely belgicisms.

Origins of Belgicisms

Belgium has three national official languages, and consequently, the French spoken in the French part of Belgium is considerably under the influence of the languages of the other Belgian regions, and is also enriched by vocabulary from the languages of neighbouring countries. In addition, there's also influence from English on Belgian-French distinct from its influence on French-French (e.g., the word boiler is not used in Metropolitan French). Belgian French is also influenced by vocabulary from other regional Romance languages, such as Picard, Walloon, Lorrain and Champenois. Belgicisms directly influenced by Walloon are specifically called Wallonisms.

Different types of belgicisms

One can point to:

Some examples