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Just saw this word on a listening exercise on https://bitesizefrench.com/amuse-bouche/sncf-pour-nous-tous-lesson-4-et-pour-nos-mouflets/

The author seems to think its negative, I was googling but not being in country I'm curious - are they right? It may be a bit more negative?

Like the english word "brat" or "rugrat" to speak of children, as a opposed to "child" "kid". I assume not as negative as "little shit" :)

Just curious if people can shed light on this word, if I referred to another parent's child as 'son mouflet' is that negative?

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    Mouflet is not a negative word, and the author of this article does not say it has a negative meaning for them, they say "it seems it’s often translated as “brats” or in a negative way", that is not what they think and they clear agree the translation on Deepl. But one of the sentences is ill constructed and I suspect some words are missing. "Kid" is certainly a good translation of mouflet.
    – None
    Commented Aug 31, 2022 at 16:12

2 Answers 2

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Mouflets is not at all negative. On the opposite it often denotes tenderness. If you look for something slightly negative, you might use mioches.

Here is how I would classify a few terms used to name children :

Mouflet/Bambin/Petiot/Poupon/Pioupiou (positive)
Gamin/Môme/Marmot/Minot/Gone/Gosse (neutral)
Mioche (slightly negative)
Morveux (negative)
Merdeux (strongly negative)

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    mioche n'est pas très péjoratif, non? En franchement péjoratif je voyais morveux ou merdeux.
    – XouDo
    Commented Sep 1, 2022 at 10:03
  • @XouDo Oui, il y a une gradation. Je viens d'en ajouter ma perception, forcément subjective, à la réponse.
    – jlliagre
    Commented Sep 1, 2022 at 10:38
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Mouflet is not negative but as it's a word no longer used so much it can become ironic ans therefore denigrating.

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    – Community Bot
    Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 11:17
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    Mouflet popularity is relatively low but it seems to have been mostly growing in the last 60 years.
    – jlliagre
    Commented Sep 2, 2022 at 12:42

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