50 French Castle & Royalty Words 🤴👸

It’s difficult to travel to France without visiting at least one castle. Castles are everywhere in France!

This list of French castle vocabulary and French nobility terms will certainly come in handy.

24 French Castle Words

1. un château fort – fortified castle, stronghold
2. le pont-levis – drawbridge
3. une meurtrière – arrow slit
4. le donjon – keep (watch out – not “dungeon”)
5. un cachot – dungeon
6. une prison – jail
7. les créneaux – crenelations (openings on top of the ramparts)
8. un corps de garde – gatehouse
9. la grande salle – great hall
10. les douves (f) – moat
11. une herse – portcullis
12. le trône – throne
13. une tour – tower
14. une tourelle – turret
15. les remparts – rampart, wall
16. une tour de guet – watchtower
17. la cotte de mailles – chain mail
18. un archer – archer
19. l’armure (f) – armor
20. une épée – sword
21. une arbalète – crossbow
22. un bouclier – shield
23. un belier – battering ram
24. une catapulte – catapult
25. le siège – siege

Can you suggest more French castle terms? Please add them in French and English to the comments below and I’ll add them up to the list!

Now that we’ve studied the French castle terms, let’s see the French vocabulary to talk about French nobility.

22 French Nobility Titles

How do you say king in French?

In French, the king is “le roi”.

How do you say queen in French?

In French, the queen is “la reine”.

French Nobility Titles

1. un chevalier – knight
2. un seigneur – lord
3. un baron – baron
4. une baronne – baroness
5. un vicomte – viscount
6. une vicomtesse – viscountess
7. un comte – count
8. une comtesse – countess
9. un marquis – marques
10. une marquise – marquesa / marquise
11. un duc – duke (say the final c)
12. une duchesse – duchess
13. un prince – prince
14. une princesse – princess
15. un roi – king
16. une reine – queen
17. le dauphin – heir apparent
18. la dauphine – crown princess
19. L’empereur – emperor
20. l’imperatrice – empress

13 Other French Royalty Terms

1. la noblesse – nobility
2. un /une noble – noble person
3. l’aristocratie (f) – aristocracy
4. un / une aristocrate – aristocrat
5. la monarchie – monarchy
6. un monarque – monarch
7. la dynastie – dynasty
8. l’empire (m) – empire
9. imperial – imperial
10. le régent – regent
11. royal – royal
12. son altesse royale – his/her royal highness
13. le trône – throne

If you liked this lesson, you may be interested in the many free French stories on French Today about French castles (go down the list to “c” for castle) and Camille’s cultural article about understanding the French bourgeoisie.