Paris, France — Some things just don’t change, or do they? Today the great publishing house of Larousse, known for its dictionaries and reference books, presented its Petit Larousse Illustré for 2025 not with changes, but as usual with many enrichments and additions. As its name implies this is the beautifully illustrated version of the classic Larousse and in many ways, quite frankly much more fun and it turns 120-years-young in 2025. It’s both a dictionary and a richly illustrated encyclopedia filled with quotes, proverbs, maximes and historical words as well as, well, the usual words.  And there is more in store: 64,300 words, 125,000 definitions, 5,500 maps, drawings, photographs and 150 illustrated plates. And lest we not forget this world of wonder also brings us 28,000 proper names of places, personalities and events. It’s also available on-line with more than 80,000 words, but that clearly does not replace going page after page marveling at the great work itself designed to infuse its beholder with precious, well-researched knowledge. But now for the fun part, the newly entered words. We look into just a few of the 150 new words, definitions, sayings and expressions below.

DÉTOX digitale (Engl. digital detox); DÉMISSION silencieuse (Engl. quiet quitting). Of course at The Gourmet Gazette we couldn’t resist one of the new culinary terms like the LIMEQUAT (Masculin noun), a round yellow citrus fruit, a hybrid of a lime and, you guessed it, a kumquat. But our personal favorite in this year of the Paris Olympics was a new sport-oriented word: BADISTE defined as a badminton player. So at your next badminton game you can now say in franglais, « Badistes, birdies at the ready. » The publishing house of Larousse was founded in 1852 by the lexicographer, linguist and publisher Pierre Larousse. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.editions-larousse.fr/