I need to write "Porte verrouillée" ("Door Locked") to a computer display, but I only have 14 characters. How can I abbreviate "verrouillée" to accomplish this? Thank you.
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1You could try to impress your clients with your knowledge of Existentialism and/or the French judicial system with “Huis clos”!– Papa PouleCommented Oct 21, 2016 at 22:24
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fermé à clé=FAC– LambieCommented Oct 21, 2016 at 22:53
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2On French keyboards, "Num lock" is "Verr. num." for "verrouillage numérique". So "porte verr." sounds totally right to me.– DestalCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 13:23
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4 Answers
Verrouillé, while comprehensible, is not the most common way of saying that a door is locked. Fermé à clé is more common. Depending on the context, porte fermée may be an adequate translation. Since it could mean either shut or locked, this is only suitable if there's no reason why the display would indicate that the door is shut.
Conversely, if it's clear that the display is about a door, then verrou fermé would work. While it isn't an idiomatic way of saying that a door is locked, it's absolutely comprehensible. Verrou enclenché (“lock engaged”) is more idiomatic but doesn't fit, however verrou enclenc or verrou encl or verr enclenché might be acceptable. None of these abbreviations are immediately clear, but they're guessable.
For an electronic lock, verrou activé is another possibility. It doesn't really work for a mechanical lock.
Otherwise porte verr. or porte verrouil are decent ways of abbreviating porte verrouillée.
If the accent on the e can't be shown then it's best to avoid the word fermé because ferme also exists and means something completely different. Fermée misspelled as *fermee is less bad because that spelling doesn't exist so fermée is a natural correction. In this case serrure fermee might be a better alternative to *verrou ferme.
How acceptable these are depends on where the display is (is it next to the door and unambiguously related to it or remote?) and who will see it (do random people need to understand it in an emergency or is this only for trained personnel?). I don't think there's a one-14-character-size-fits-all solution in French.
answered Oct 21, 2016 at 21:21
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Saying that a "serrure" is "fermée" seems incorrect to me. "Porte fermée" is definitely what's best– KsyqoCommented Oct 22, 2016 at 2:18
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1@ValentinBerthelot “Verrou fermé” is correct, “serrure fermée” isn't, but in everyday usage people don't really distinguish between verrou and serrure. Commented Oct 22, 2016 at 10:20
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Good post ! Not sure why "serrure fermée" is incorrect. :x Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 12:50
Concernant "verrouillée", l'abréviation utilisée sur les claviers d'ordinateurs est "Verr." (Comme dans "Verr. Maj." ("Caps Lock")).verr maj
Comme alternative, je propose "Porte barrée" qui est commun, du moins au Quebec.
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1En France, je comprends « porte barrée » comme une porte qui est infranchissable en permanence (ou à la rigueur qui déclenche une alarme). C'est différent au Québec ? Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 20:57
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Oui ça l'est. La signification dont vous parlez est secondaire plutôt que primaire au Quebec dans mon expérience.– ApplePieCommented Oct 24, 2016 at 22:28
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@AlexandreP.Levasseur L'expression "une porte barrée" ou "barrer la porte" (pour "verrouiller") est un régionalisme en France ; l'expression est commune dans le Poitou mais je ne l'ai jamais entendue ailleurs. Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 10:08
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serrure fermée
verrou tiré
porte bouclée
porte bloquée (sens un peu différent)
answered Oct 22, 2016 at 9:05
I can't see any natural and understandable way to abbreviate "verrouillée" so I would rather suggest to write:
Porte fermée
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