Learning BJJ in French — Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu French Glossary

Since late 2021 I picked up a new hobby in my repertoire — Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). And so far I’ve studied at four different dojos in three different countries, including two that are francophone. So I’ve learned how to talk about BJJ in French.

But Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, like any field, has its own specific vocabulary. A lot of the movement and positions have generic names that translate, but many others come from Japanese (from Judo, e.g. ippon seoi nage), or are named after people who made them famous (e.g. the kimura).

I started training in BJJ in Australia where I could do it in my best language, English, while I focused on the base skills. But after about 5 months of training, I started travelling — first to Francophone countries. So I learned a bit about the French ways of describing Jiu-Jitsu movements.

As context, I already spoke French. I learned it as an adult, starting when I was 21 or so. French is my fourth language and I’ve used it in university (as an engineering student) and at a professional level.

So here it is — my guide to training in Jiu-Jitsu or BJJ in French.

You might also like my reflections on studying BJJ in Mauritius.

You might also like my list of BJJ / MMA words in Spanish.

Overview of Learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) in French

Overall, if you’re familiar with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in general, then moving to a new dojo always has its set of challenges. Each gym has its own culture and that’s only partially related to the country it’s in.

But that said, there’s a lot in common in every martial arts gym. There are some universal things like: warm up drills, rules about not wearing shoes on the mats, asking for permission to join a class if joining late, and so on. So every time I show up to a gym, it’s with a degree of general familiarity.

That said, adapting to learning BJJ in French was surprisingly tricky. I expected more loanwords! There’s quite a few, just not for some of the more common things.

One thing to start with — BJJ became popular globally via America (after of course Brazil and Japan). So a lot of the global vocabulary is in English, with many Japanese loan-words (randori, kesa gatame), many words named after practitioners (Kimura, De La Riva), the occasional general martial arts term (oss!).

Different practitioners prefer different terms, and this includes French-speaking BJJ coaches. Just like your coach might call a scarf hold a kesa gatame, a French-speaking coach may say “prends tes underhooks” rather than use a French equivalent. It’s up to the individual.

The reason for this is that most French people know English (though may not be fluent speaking it socially), and so much culture proliferates via the Internet, the UFC, and Youtube, that a lot of language naturally gets imported rather than translated.

But on to a few general concepts for doing BJJ in French.

Firstly, in French, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is known as Jiu-Jitsu Brésilien, or JJB. You say it ji-ji-bé. Of course people will know what “bee-jay-jay” is, but it sounds foreign.

Secondly, French speakers do import a lot of basic terminology from Japanese. For example, in French people refer to the “gi” uniform as the kimono.

But where French is different to many other languages is that many position and attack names are translated to French.

This is different to, for example, Korean, where an arm bar is just phonetically called an 암바, which is pronounced am-ba.

On top of that, the French generally opt for a few different terms for things.

For example, the gi, the English/international loan word for the traditional martial arts outfit, is also known as a kimono. French prefer the latter.

Or to describe sparring, rather than using the English loan-word as they do in boxing, the French use the Japanese loan word randori, also used commonly in Judo.

It’s things like this that are useful to know when contemplating doing BJJ in French.

Here’s some terminology I’ve hard to learn. On y va, c’est parti!

Quick notes —

1. This is my experience from two gyms and around 5 coaches (plus online videos) only. If you have another perspective to share, I welcome it!

2. Of course most French coaches in France can coach you in English. France is a country with a high level of education, and many coaches have trained and competed abroad. But if you want to participate in the class and kind of disappear, or to practise your French via a hobby, like I do, speaking French will help.

General BJJ Terms in French

Here are a bunch of general terms I think you need to know in French to do BJJ in French.

Some of them are verbs, some are nouns, but these are the basic ones you need to know.

English	French
BJJ	JJB (pronounce it ji-ji-bé)
Back take	Prise de dos
Balance	L’équilibre
Belt e.g. White belt with two stripes	Une ceinture e.g. Ceinture blanche à deux barrettes
Bow (e.g. the formality)	L’inclination Verb: s’incliner Also common is “se saluer”, to greet one another
Collar / lapel	Le col / le lapel
Escape	S’échapper or sortir (exit)
Flexible / flexibility	Souple / Souplesse
Forward roll	Une roulade
Frame	Un cadre
Gi / Kimono	Le kimono, or le “kim”
Grip	Un grip or une saisie 1. Noting “grip” because it’s not correct French but sometimes used. “Prends tes grips”. 2. Also note that la grippe is “the flu”.
Guard passing	passage de garde / passer la garde (or ouvrir la garde)
A hook (e.g. in back control)	Un crochet
Mat	Le tapis
Mouthguard	Un protège-dents
Roll (i.e. to have a roll)	Tourner Faire des “randori” (a Judo term used in France in BJJ)
A shrimp / hip escape	Une langouste or une crevette (I’ve heard both to describe the movement) Or “Sors tes hanches”
Submit	Soumettre
Submission	Une soumission
Sweep	Un renversement. Also “un sweep”
Sleeve	La manche
Throw (like Judo moves)	Une projection
Underhook	Une escrime (lit: fencing sword), also “un underhook” depending on the teacher
Windshield wiper Do a windshield wiper movement	un essuie-glace Fais un mouvement d’essuie-glace
Wrestling	La lutte

Movements

There are a bunch of verbs that I think are a little advanced (or at least intermediate) that you have to know in French.

This is a non-complete list, but it’s a start!

English	French
Beat / defeat	Toper (slang, from “top”)
Counter	Contrer
Catch/grab	Saisir / Attraper Or toper (familiar) Tope le bras…
Dodge / avoid	Esquiver
Grab onto (e.g. a collar)	S’accrocher à
Grab / Grip	Saisir
Extend (e.g. a leg, arm)	Étendre
Hit (don’t do this…)	Frapper
Kick (as in to extend a leg)	Kicker
Lock	Verrouiller
Have a drink of water (lit. a mouthful)	Boire un coup d’eau
Pass / outflank	Déborder Usually passer but heard this too
Slap (Sometimes I do this by accident…)	Gifler
Span/straddle (e.g. when passing a guard)	Enjamber
Stack / Pressure / pack down (e.g. during a pass)	Tasser
Strangle	Étrangler
Sweep	Renverser. Also “Sweeper”
Switch your hips	Renverser tes hanches
Tap	Tapper (a loan word)
Throw (Judo)	Projecter
Topple over	Basculer
Twist	Vriller
Unbalance / throw off balance	Déséquilibrer

First time I heard enjamber I thought… “to en-leg?”

Controle positions in French

These are positions of control in French — like mount, half guard, etc.

Usually you use these with a sentence like je t’avais en position montée.

If they’re not below, like single leg x for example, then assume it’s the same but just pronounced as if it were French.

English	French
Mount	La montée
Butterfly guard	Papillon
Collar-sleeve	Col-manche
Half guard	Demi garde
Deep half guard	Demi garde profonde
Side control	Contrôle latéral or La croix
Open guard	Garde ouverte
Closed guard	Garde fermée
Back control	Contrôle du dos
Head to tail	Tête bêche
North-South	Nord-Sud
Knee on belly	Le genou sur l’estomac or just genou-estomac Or genou au ventre
Seatbelt	Ceinture de sécurité
Spider guard	Garde araignée (sometimes just “le spider”)
Turtle	La tortue / à quatre pattes

Attacks

Arm bars, knee bars, kimuras… here are all the common attacks that get translated into French.

You can improvise many of these names if you know another word (e.g. arm, leg).

English	French
Arm bar / lock	Une clé/clef de bras Sometimes a “juji” (from juji gatame, Japanese)
Knee bar / lock	Une clé de genou
Ankle lock	Une clé de cheville
Arm triangle	Un (étranglement) bras-tête
Choke	Un étranglement E.g. “clock choke” is Étranglement en horloge
Guillotine	Une guillotine (another free one!)
Triangle	Un triangle (pronounced in French of course)

A note on “strangle” being étranglement: Linguistic purists will note that in English we should really call chokes “strangles”, but I’m more of a functional linguist, in that I believe in letting let languages evolve naturally, unless the evolution actually gets in the way of comprehension.

I think forcing people to call them “strangles” is counterproductive. For example, obliging people to call it a “rear naked strangle” doesn’t help people know what you’re talking about.

Body parts

You can learn body parts anywhere, and I expect anyone thinking of doing BJJ in French already knows the basics like arm, head, or leg.

But there are a number of body parts I just rarely have to say in any language that I find myself saying more in Jiu-Jitsu.

English	French
ankle	la cheville
armpit	l’aisselle (f)
artery	l’artère (f)
back of the neck / nape	la nuque
belly button	le nombril
bicep	le bicep (there’s a free one…)
chest	la poitrine
crook The crook of the knee / elbow	le creux Le creux du genou / coude
elbow	le coude
fist	le poing
forehead	le front
Groin Don’t step on my groin	l’aine Marche pas sur mon aine
heel	le talon
hips	les hanches
jaw You’re crushing my jaw	la mâchoire Tu m’écrases la mâchoire
knee	le genou
	le creux du genou
palm	la paume
shin	le tibia
shoulders	les épaules
shoulder blade	l’omoplate
spine	la colonne vertébrale
thigh	la cuisse
throat	la gorge
thumb	le pouce
toes	les orteils
wrist	le poignet

Funny story, for a while I thought when in class they were saying “la paume” (palm) it was “la pomme” (apple), and that it was a euphemism for fist.

Injuries and remedies

Alas, injuries happen! Here are a few that happen regularly, plus common remedies / first aid things (nothing complex).

English	French
Band-aid	un pansement
Black eye	un oeil au beurre noir
Blood E.g. there’s blood on your gi	du sang Il y a du sang sur ton kim
Bruise E.g. My arm is going to bruise	un bleu (usually plural) E.g. Mon bras va avoir des bleus
Finger tape	la bande de doigt
Pain	douleur Commonly mal à e.g. j’ai mal au bras
Sensitive (e.g. to pain)	sensible E.g. mon épaule est un peu sensible
Sprained ankle	Une entorse à la cheville

Don’t forget your protège-dents!