🇫🇷 French

banque

Did you know? This word is a cognate — it looks similar in English and has the same meaning. Cognates are usually easier to remember!
feminine

la banque

bank

Try it

banque
/la bɑ̃k/
← masculine feminine →

How do you say banque in French?

IPA
/la bɑ̃k/

How do you pronounce banque in French?

banque is pronounced /la bɑ̃k/ in French.

Example sentences

La banque française est très ancienne et elle est bien connue dans toute l'Europe.

The French bank is very old and it is well known throughout Europe.

Cette grande banque a fermé ses portes hier, mais sa directrice générale a promis une réouverture rapide.

This large bank closed its doors yesterday, but its female general director promised a quick reopening.

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Why is it feminine?

Banque is feminine because it derives from Italian "banca" (a money-changer's bench or counter), which is itself feminine in Italian, and this gender was preserved when the word entered French in the 16th century. The ultimate origin is Germanic "bank" (bench), but the feminine gender was established through the Italian intermediary rather than following any systematic French rule.

What is the French word for bank?

The French word for bank is la banque — feminine.

Gender across languages

LanguageWordArticleGender
🇪🇸 Spanishbanco flips!elmasculine
🇮🇹 Italianbancalafeminine
🇵🇹 Portuguesebanco flips!omasculine

Practice with Accord

Swipe through hundreds of words and master grammatical gender in French.

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