How Do You Say Clay In French?

Going to see a potter make Egyptian style carved pots during a week-long field trip to an Egyptian oasis with the entire 5th grade class of the Lycée Français du Caire was by far one of the most impactful trips of my childhood. That trip inspired my passion for clay-work, and naturally, thanks to my oasis awakening, I enrolled in a pottery class immediately upon my return. So, my first pottery class was in Arabic!

When I moved to the US and deepened my learning of the ceramic arts in high school under the instruction of professional potter Ron Burke, my ceramics vocabulary expanded, and all in English.

I also speak French. French is actually the language I grew up speaking most thanks to my elementary schooling in French institutions and my French-Lebanese mother and French grandmother. However, since I was not exposed to ceramics in French, hélas, I didn't know French pottery terms! Teaching at a bilingual French-English school from 2019-2022 inspired me to finally hit the dictionary and become a more authentically bilingual potter.

I put together this glossary of English-French pottery terms for myself and for my students, and now I get to share it with you! If you have any additions, recommendations, etc, please let me know.

Glossary of Pottery Terms / Glossaire Lexique de la Poterie

Occupations - Métiers

• Artist - Artiste

• Ceramicist - Céramiste

• Craftsperson - Artisan

• Kiln tech - Chauffeur 

• Potter - Potier / potière

• Sculptor - Sculpteur / Sculpteuse / Sculpteure

• Student - Étudiant.e

• Teacher - Enseignant.e

• Wheel-thrower - Tourneur 

What do potters do? - Que font les potiers? 

• Centering clay on the wheel - Centrage 

• Coil-building - Fabriquer par colombinage

• Finishing pieces - Finissage 

• Hand-building - Fabriquer à la main 

• Make pottery - Faire de la poterie 

• Press-molding (slump or hump) - Estampage  

• Slab-building - Fabriquer par plaques 

• Slip-casting - Coulage en barbotine 

• Throw pots - Tourner des pots 

• To clean - Nettoyer 

• To trim - Tournasser 

• Wedging - Pétrir 

• Wheel-throwing - Tournage

Workshop Tools - Outils de l’atelier 

• Bat - Rondeau

• Bucket - Seau

• Banding wheel - Tournette 

• Calipers - Compas 

• Chuck - Mandrin 

• Cut-off wire - Fil à couper / fil en fer 

• Fettling knife - Couteau de potier 

• Loop tool - Mirette 

• Mold - Moule  

• Paint brush - Pinceau

• Pintool / needle tool - Aiguille

• Potter’s wheel - Tour de potier 

• Rib (wood or metal) - Estèque (bois ou métal) 

• Rolling pin - Rouleau à pâte

• Ruler - Règle

• Scale - Balance 

• Splash pan - Garde-boue

• Sponge - Éponge 

• Tongs - Des pinces

• Trimming tool - Tournassin 

• Wedging table - Dalle to pétrissage

• Wheel - Girelle 

• Wooden knife - Couteau de bois

• Wooden modeling tool - Ébauchoir 

Clay - Argile 

• Air bubbles - Des bulles d’air  

• Bisque - Biscuit

• Bone dry - Sèche

• Coil - Colombin 

• Low fire bisque - Dégourdi 

• Dust - Poussière

• Earthenware - Faïence

• Grog - Chamotte

• Leather hard - Consistance du cuir 

• Plasticity - Plastique 

• Porcelain - Porcelaine

• Slab - Plaque

• Slip - Barbotine

• Stoneware - Grès

• Thick - Épais(se)

• Thin - Mince 

The Kiln - Le Four 

• Cone - Cône 

• Cracks - Fissures 

• Explosion - Une explosion

• Firing - Cuisson 

• Fill a kiln - Encastage 

• Pinhole - Coque d’oeuf / gerçure

• To candle - Préchauffer

• To cool - Refroidir 

• To fire - Cuire

• To load - Remplir

• Shelf - Tablette

• Stilt - Pilier

Glazing - Émaillage

• Crawled - Retiré(e)

• Crazed - Trésaillé(e)

• Dip glazing - Trempage

• Food safe - sans risque pour l’alimentation 

• Glaze - Émail 

• Glossy - Brillant 

• Matt - Mate

• Metal oxides - Oxydes métalliques 

• Opaque - Opaque

• Speckled - Tacheté(e) 

• Transparent - Transparente 

• Underglaze - Sous-glaçure

• Unglazed - Non-émaillé(e)

• Wax resist - Réserve à la cire 

Decorations - Décorations 

• Devil’s work (Linglong, guigong) - Linglong 

• Kintsugi - Kintsugi (jointure en or)

• Mishima - Mishima

• Sgraffito - Sgraffite

• To imprint - Empreinter

• To stamp - Tamponner 

Types of pots - Types de pots 

• Bottle - Bouteille

• Bowl - Bol 

• Coil pot - Pot par colombins

• Cup - Tasse 

• Flower pot - Pot à fleurs / vase 

• Functional pottery - Poterie utilitaire 

• Gobelet - Gobelet / Coupe 

• Pinch pot - Pot par la méthode d’amincissement

• Plate - Assiette

• Platter - Plat

• Pot - Pot

• Tray - Plateau

Parts of a pot - Parties d’un pot 

• Base - Base 

• Body - Le corps d’un pot

• Foot - Pied

• Handle - Anse

• Lid - Couvercle

• Lip - Lèvre

• Mouth - Embouchure 

• Neck - Col

• Rim - Bord

• Shoulder - Épaule

• Spout - Bec

• Wall - Mur