Word origins

• poste restanteA postal service in which a mail is held at a post office to be collected by the recipient
• postulantA person seeking admission to a religious order.
• potagerieA vegetable garden where vegetables are grown for making soup.
• pot-au-feuA thick soup of meat and vegetables cooked together in a large pot.
• PotetA surname from French.
• poticheA vase with a separate cover, the body usually rounded or polygonal in plan with nearly vertical sides, a neck of smaller size, and a rounded shoulder.
• potinAn alloy of copper, zinc, lead, and tin.
• poubelleA garbage can.
• poudretteA solid powdered agricultural manure prepared by composting human feces (night soil from outhouses and dry closets) by mixing it with various other ingredients (e.g., ground gypsum, lime, ashes) and then aging and drying the result.
• poudreuseA kind of dressing table with several compartments and a mirror.
• PouillonA surname.
• PoullardA surname from French.
• poulpeAn octopus.
• pourboireA tip (extra money given to e.g. a waiter in appreciation of service), especially in French contexts.
• pour encourager les autresIn order to warn or intimidate others (especially by making an example of someone or something).
• pourparlerparley (diplomatic consultation)
• pourpointerieQuilting of the sort used in constructing pourpoints.
• pourpointingSynonym of pourpointerie.
• Pourquoi PasA mountainous island lying between Bigourdan Fjord and Bourgeois Fjord off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica.
• pousse-caféA digestif consumed after the coffee course.
• PoussonA surname from French.
• poutinerieA restaurant that specializes in making poutine.
• PouyanneA surname from French.
• powder-douceA sweet spice mixture used in medieval cookery.
• PrairialThe ninth month of the French Republican Calendar, from May 20 or 21 to June 18 or 19.
• prairillonA little prairie.
• Prat-BonrepauxA village in Ariège department, France.
• précisA summary or brief: a concise or abridged statement or view.
• precoceprecocious
• predeterminismThe belief that all events that occur have already been determined.
• premier jusHigh-quality dripping, the first fraction to melt from the solid fat.
• prenderThe power or right of taking a thing before it is offered
• preposeTo place or set (something) before; to prefix.
• presidentiableA presidential candidate considered to have a good chance of winning an election.
• presque vuA failure to remember something, with the sense that recall is imminent.
• prestidigitatorOne who performs feats of prestidigitation; a sleight-of-hand artist.
• prêt-à-porterReady-to-wear.
• preux chevalierA valiant knight; any gallant gentleman.
• prevenanceA going before; anticipation in sequence or order.
• PrévostA surname from French, variant of Prevost
• prevoyantforeseeing; prescient
• priantA kneeling figure, in French sepulchral art.
• printanierPrepared with spring vegetables.
• prix fixeA menu in which the entire meal is offered at a single fixed price.
• profiteroleA small, hollow case of choux pastry with a filling.
• proletaireSynonym of proletarian.
• prononcéStrongly marked; decided, or distinguished, in manners, attire, or appearance.
• propensionPropensity.
• prosateurA writer of French prose.
• prosobranchA gastropod with gills in front of the heart, formerly thought to belong to a single group, Prosobranchia.
• protégéA person who is guided and supported by an older and more experienced person (a protector or mentor).
• protégéeA female protégé.
• provocatriceA female provocateur.
• prud'hommeAn honorable, upstanding man.
• prunelleA kind of small and very acid French plum, especially when stoned and dried, from Prunus spinosa.
• pterionThe point corresponding with the posterior end of the sphenoparietal suture; known as the weakest part of the skull.
• pterygopalatineOf or pertaining to the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone and the palatine bone.
• ptilocerqueSynonym of pen-tailed treeshrew.
• pudding chomeurA type of pudding originating from Montreal, Quebec, Canada during the Great Depression. A dessert made by covering cake batter or stale bread with maple syrup, which then settles to the bottom after baking.
• pudeurA sense of modesty, shame, or reserve, especially as relating to sexual matters.
• puitA well; a small stream; a fountain; a spring.
• pupeA pupa.
• pure laineOf or pertaining to francophone Quebecers of "pure" French ancestry, descended from settlers in New France.
• pur et durBeing a hardliner of the Quebec independence movement.
• pur sangBeyond doubt or being a model example; the ne plus ultra or epitome; the definitive.
• putoisA brush of polecat's hair for painting ceramics.
• Pyrénées-OrientalesA department in Occitania, France. Capital: Perpignan.
• pyrogravurepyrography
• quadrilliardA thousand million million million million: 1 followed by twenty-seven zeros, 10²⁷.
• quatre quartFrench pound cake
• QuebecismThe quality of belonging to or being characteristic of Quebec.
• QuebedeauxA surname from French.
• quelle surpriseWhat a surprise.
• QuelozA surname from French.
• QuemenesAn island of Molene Archipelago, Finistère department, Brittany, France.
• quenelleA light dumpling made of lightly spiced minced meat or fish bound with egg and poached.
• quenouilleThe distaff- or cone-like shape of a tree that has been subjected to quenouille training.
• quetschA dark-skinned variety of plum.
• quiche lorraineA type of quiche, originally from the area of Lorraine in France, made with cheese and bacon.
• QuiévrechainA town in Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France.
• quillonSynonym of crossguard (“a metal bar fixed between, and at right angles to, the blade and the handle of a sword or other bladed weapon that stops an opponent's similar weapon from sliding along the blade and injuring the hand of the person wielding the sword”).
• quintilliardA thousand million million million million million: 1 followed by thirty-three zeros, 10³³.
• quinzaineThe fifteenth day after a feast day, including both days in the reckoning.
• quinziemeA tax of one fifteenth (0.067%), particularly the excise and customs charged by John of England around 1204.
• qui vivea state of heightened vigilance, especially prior to battle
• RaboinA surname from French.
• rabotA rubber used in polishing marble.
• racahoutA Middle Eastern dish made from acorns.
• racloirA prehistoric flint scraper.
• raconteuseA female storyteller.
• radeauA float; a raft.
• radoubThe refitting of a ship.
• rafraîchissoirA kind of dining table with shelves and inset wells for cooling bottles.
• raïA form of music, originating in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds.
• RaicheA surname from French.
• railleurA jiber; a joker; a mocker.
• raisinéA type of conserve made from grapes.
• raison d'étatA state interest, especially when invoked as politically superior to moral or even legal considerations.
• raison d'êtreA reason for being; the claimed reason for the existence of something or someone; the sole or ultimate purpose of something or someone.
• RambinA surname from French.