🇫🇷French Source WordCode: FR

voyou

Pronunciation / Transliteration: vwaju

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Hooligan/ˈhuː.lɪ.ɡən/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #8500 frequency
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🇫🇷 Example Sentence in French:

"La police a arrêté un groupe de voyous."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A violent young troublemaker, typically one of a gang.

    "Police detained several football hooligans after clashes broke out near the stadium."
  2. 2

    A person who is rowdy, disorderly, or engages in petty vandalism.

    "The park benches were damaged by local hooligans over the weekend."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Synonyms (3)
Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the late 19th-century London slang, likely originating from a fictitious rowdy Irish family named 'Houlihan' featured in a music-hall song. Over time, the term evolved from referring to a member of a street gang to describe any violent or destructive troublemaker.

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