Image by John Bauer.

French uses many sigles (acronyms) and abréviations (abbreviations) in everyday writing beyond textspeak. There are many in English aussi (as well) that people don’t think about very often: etc, eg, ie, PS, and many more.

I was reading an article en français (in French) and I came across un sigle that I couldn’t understand:

Ndlr

There was nothing obvious about it, and I couldn’t come up with anything that would fit the letters! After a quick search I learned that it was:

Note de la redaction
Editor’s note

It’s used when the editor wants to add in their own opinion or clarification in a quote or a citation. When I read it I couldn’t think of a good English equivalent. That confusion made me think about what other sigles and abréviations are used in French that are very common in everday writing.

Voici une petite liste de sigles et abréviations en français :

TGV
Train à grande vitesse
High speed rail

RU
Restaurant universitaire
University restaurant (dining hall)

VOST
Version originelle sous-titrée
Original subtitled version

SDF
Sans domicile fixe
Without fixed home (homeless)

RIB
Relevé d’identité bancaire
Bank identity statement (bank account details)

TIC
Technologies d’informations et de la communication
Information and communication technologies (Information technologies IT)

c-à-d
C’est-à-dire
That is to say (That is, ie)

ex
exemple
eg (for example)

etc
et cetera
et cetera (and so on, etc)

PS
Post-scriptum
PS (note added to the end of a letter)

Let me know in the comments if you’ve come across any French sigles or abréviations that confused you!