French Word of the Day: Dinguerie

From breathtaking landscapes to unbelievable football goals, the French love describing anything extraordinary as 'une dinguerie'.

A good French word to know if you want to express amazement regarding something in particular.

The word dinguerie , roughly pronounced dan-guh-ree (listen here ) means "something crazy" or "something incredible". It can be used to describe a situation, an achievement, an amount, an object, or even a person that is so extreme it leaves people amazed.

It comes from the adjective dingue , meaning "crazy," "mad," or "insane." The suffix - erie is commonly added to French words to create a noun referring to a characteristic, behaviour, or collection of things. Here, it transforms dingue into a noun meaning "a crazy thing" or "something completely insane."

Une dinguerie always refers to something that catches you by surprise. It's unexpected, unpredictable and out of the ordinary - much like the behaviour traditionally associated with someone who is dingue (crazy).

According to Philosophie Magazine , the word's origins reflect this idea. The old verb dinguer (now obsolete, but still heard in valdinguer ) meant to fall suddenly, to wander aimlessly, or to move about without direction. It could also mean to strike or hit, much like an event or experience that "hits" you because of how shocking or extraordinary it is.

As philosopher Roger-Pol Droit suggests, appreciating a dinguerie means allowing yourself to be swept away by something that pulls you off your usual path and into the unexpected.

Il a couru un marathon en moins de deux heures… c'est une dinguerie. - He ran a marathon in under two hours... that's unbelievable.

La Grèce c'est magnifique. Les paysages, c'est une dinguerie ! - Greece is beautiful. The landscapes are incredible.