What does roman in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word roman in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use roman in French.

The word roman in French means novel, novel, Romanesque art, Romanesque, Romance, the Roman language, Rhaeto-Romanic, roman à cléf, romance novel, penny dreadful, novel of interwoven stories, romance novel, futuristic novel, bildungsroman, coming-of-age novel, adventure story, adventure novel, spy novel, swashbuckling adventure story, airport novel, science fiction novel, epistolary novel, fantasy novel, historical novel, noir fiction, roman noir, crime novel, detective novel, serial novel, serialized novel, serial, like a soap opera, roman-fleuve, photo-story. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word roman

novel

nom masculin (œuvre littéraire) (book)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Son dernier roman a été publié à des milliers d'exemplaires.
Thousands of copies of his latest novel have been published.

novel

nom masculin (genre littéraire) (literary form)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Alexandre est un auteur de roman.
Alexander writes novels.

Romanesque art

nom masculin (art roman)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Le roman est très présent en Auvergne.

Romanesque

adjectif (relatif à l'art médiéval occidental)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
C'est une église romane.
This is a Romanesque church.

Romance

adjectif (issue du latin populaire) (language)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Le français est une langue romane.
French is a Romance language.

the Roman language

nom masculin (Histoire (langue dérivée du latin) (historical)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Charles le chauve a prononcé son serment à son frère Louis le germanique en roman.
Charles the Bald swore his oath to his brother Louis the German in the Roman language.

Rhaeto-Romanic

adjectif (relatif à des dialectes romans)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Les langues rhéto-romanes furent parlées jusqu'à la fin du Moyen Âge.

roman à cléf

nom masculin (roman satirique)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
ⓘCette phrase n'est pas une traduction de la phrase originale. A roman à cléf is a novel with thinly-disguised characters.

romance novel

nom masculin (roman à sentiments amoureux)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Lise lit souvent des romans à l'eau de rose pendant ses vacances.

penny dreadful

nom masculin (roman sans thème philosophique) (UK)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

novel of interwoven stories

nom masculin (roman à digressions multiples)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

romance novel

nom masculin (idylle romanesque)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La collection Arlequin produit beaucoup de romans d'amour.

futuristic novel

nom masculin (roman futuriste)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

bildungsroman, coming-of-age novel

nom masculin (livre d'éducation romanesque)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

adventure story, adventure novel

nom masculin (type de livre)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

spy novel

nom masculin (roman d'aventures d'espions)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

swashbuckling adventure story

nom féminin (roman d'aventures populaire)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les mousquetaires alimentent de nombreux romans de cape et d'épée.

airport novel

nom masculin (livre se lisant facilement)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

science fiction novel

nom masculin (roman futuriste)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

epistolary novel

nom masculin (roman de correspondance)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
« Les liaisons dangereuses » est un célèbre roman épistolaire français.

fantasy novel

nom masculin (roman surnaturel)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Le roman fantastique se caractérise par l’intrusion du surnaturel dans le cadre réaliste d’un récit.

historical novel

nom masculin (roman basé sur l'Histoire) (fiction)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

noir fiction, roman noir

nom masculin (roman policier sordide)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

crime novel, detective novel

nom masculin (livre à énigme meutrière)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Mon cousin emmène toujours des romans policiers quand il voyage en train.

serial novel, serialized novel, serial

nom masculin (littérature de magazine) (literature)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les romans-feuilletons ne sont plus très à la mode.

like a soap opera

nom masculin (figuré (histoire à rebondissements)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
Son voyage est un vrai roman-feuilleton !

roman-fleuve

nom masculin (roman ou récit très long) (Gallicism)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Les mémoires de mon oncle sont un vrai roman-fleuve.

photo-story

nom masculin (histoire accompagnée de photos)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Pour gagner un peu d'argent, Marguerite pose pour des romans-photos.

Let's learn French

So now that you know more about the meaning of roman in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

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French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.