From these 29 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
The tenth entry is le mouvement du sol, and the short word at the end of it is one French noun covering four things English keeps firmly apart. Here le sol is the ground, the body of earth and rock a seismograph is bolted to. Indoors it is the floor: le carrelage du sol is the floor tiling, and poser un parquet au sol is to lay a wooden floor. In a field it is the soil a farmer works, so un sol argileux is a clay soil and l’appauvrissement des sols is soil exhaustion. And in music it is the note we call G: la clé de sol is the treble clef, and that one arrives from a mediaeval hymn rather than from anything underfoot. Four English words, then — ground, floor, soil and G — against a single French word that never announces which is meant. Only the subject of the sentence decides. On this page it is always the first of the four, and it is the one place where le sol is treated as something that moves rather than as the thing everything else stands on.
The words
View
Phrase (23)
onde sismiquethe seismic wavePhraseC2
L’onde sismique traverse la croûte en quelques secondes.A seismic wave needs only seconds to cross the crust.
onde primairethe primary wavePhraseC2
L’onde primaire arrive toujours la première.Nothing reaches the instrument before the primary wave does.
onde secondairethe secondary wavePhraseC2
L’onde secondaire secoue davantage les murs.Walls are shaken harder by the secondary wave than by the one ahead of it.
onde de surfacethe surface wavePhraseC2
L’onde de surface cause l’essentiel des dégâts.Most of the damage is the work of the surface wave.
temps d’arrivéethe arrival timePhraseC2
La différence des temps d’arrivée donne la distance.Distance is read off the gap between two arrival times.
profondeur du foyerthe focal depthPhraseC2
La profondeur du foyer explique la faible intensité en surface.A great focal depth is why so little was felt at the surface.
magnitude de momentthe moment magnitudePhraseC2
La magnitude de moment se calcule à partir de la surface rompue.Moment magnitude follows from how much fault surface broke.
échelle d’intensitéthe intensity scalePhraseC2
L’échelle d’intensité décrit ce que les gens ont ressenti.An intensity scale records what people experienced, not what the rock did.
mouvement du solthe ground motionPhraseC2
Le mouvement du sol est enregistré dans trois directions.Ground motion is written down along three axes at once.
accélération maximale du solthe peak ground accelerationPhraseC2
L’accélération maximale du sol sert au dimensionnement.Engineers size a structure against the peak ground acceleration.
effet de sitethe site effectPhraseC2
L’effet de site amplifie la secousse au fond de la vallée.Down in the valley floor the site effect makes the shaking worse.
liquéfaction du solsoil liquefactionPhraseC2
La liquéfaction du sol a fait pencher les immeubles.Whole blocks of flats tilted where soil liquefaction set in.
faille décrochantethe strike-slip faultPhraseC2
La faille décrochante fait glisser deux blocs l’un contre l’autre.On a strike-slip fault the two blocks slide past one another sideways.
zone de subductionthe subduction zonePhraseC2
La zone de subduction produit les séismes les plus profonds.The deepest earthquakes of all come out of a subduction zone.
accumulation de contraintethe build-up of stressPhraseC2
L’accumulation de contrainte dure des siècles.A build-up of stress can go on for hundreds of years.
lacune sismiquethe seismic gapPhraseC2
Une lacune sismique n’annonce aucune date.A seismic gap tells you where, and never when.
série de répliquesthe aftershock sequencePhraseC2
La série de répliques a duré des semaines.The aftershock sequence went on for week after week.
sismicité induiteinduced seismicityPhraseC2
La sismicité induite accompagne certains forages.Some drilling operations bring induced seismicity with them.
alerte précocethe early warningPhraseC2
L’alerte précoce gagne quelques secondes.An early warning buys a handful of seconds, and that is the whole of it.
carte d’aléa sismiquethe seismic hazard mapPhraseC2
La carte d’aléa sismique guide les règles locales.Local rules are drawn up from the seismic hazard map.
norme de constructionthe building codePhraseC2
La norme de construction impose des armatures continues.Continuous reinforcement is something the building code insists on.
isolation à la basebase isolationPhraseC2
L’isolation à la base laisse le bâtiment glisser doucement.With base isolation the building is allowed to slide gently instead of resisting.
