Roulette French Terms
Quick Guide to French Roulette Terms. That’s why I like the online games that are linked to real casinos, a live roulette game which you can find with most of the major roulette companies is a much better option in my opinion. But of course nothing beats going to a real casino with a European wheel. In the text box, you can edit the words or names that are displayed on the wheel. Simply select and remove everything and put your own entries in it. Each entry should be on a new line or separated by a comma. Click on the 'Update' button. When clicking on it, a new name roulette wheel will be generated. Second, to use it: By now you've set it up.
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Roulette came to the United States via France, and many people use the original French terms instead of the English. You’ll find some of the French terms in the glossary below for informational purposes. For each French term, you’ll see French: English term. See the corresponding English term for the definition.
A Cheva
French:split bet.
Action
The amount of money bet during a specific period of time.
American Roulette
The dominant roulette game in North American casinos and widely available online. The wheel used in American Roulette contains 38 numbered slots (or pockets), and numbers range from 1-36 and include a 0 and a 00.
American Wheel
The roulette wheel most commonly used in American casinos and widely available online. It contains 38 numbered slots (or pockets) and number range from 1-36 and include a 0 and a 00.
Backtrack
The stationary, outer rim of the roulette wheel where the ball spins.
Ball
The small ball, which spins on the roulette wheel in the opposite direction of the wheel’s spin. The ball spins on the stationary, outer rim of the wheel until it falls into one of the numbered pockets.
Bankroll
The total amount of money a player intends to gamble for a session.
Bet on the Layout
A bet on the numbered part of the roulette table, also called an inside bet.
Carr’
French: corner bet.
Cheval
French: split bet.
Colonne
French: column bet.
Column Bet
An outside bet covering all 12 numbers in one of the long columns: 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36.
Combination Bet
A single bet that covers more than one number at a time.
Corner Bet
An inside bet placed at the intersection of four numbers, and covering all four numbers.
Croupier
Casino employee who operates the roulette table and controls the flow of the game.
Double Zero Wheel
American wheel, used in American and online casinos, with two green zero pockets, a 0 pocket, and a 00 pocket.
Dozen Bet
An outside bet covering one dozen of the three dozen numbers: 1-12, 13-24, or 25-36. Also called a column bet.
En Plein
French: straight up bet.
En Prison Rule
Applied to even-money bets. If the ball lands on zero, the bet is imprisoned for another spin. If the ball lands on zero during the next spin, the player loses the bet. This rule reduces the house edge by 50% on even-money bets.
European Wheel
The standard roulette wheel used in European casinos and online casinos, also called a single 0 wheel, containing 37 pockets: 1 to 36 plus a single 0.
French wheel
A wheel, used mainly in Europe, containing one green zero pocket, labeled 0.
Even Money
Pays 1:1. Also called an even bet.
Even-Odd Bet
Outside bet, covering all 18 even or odd numbers.
Five Number Bet
An American, single 0 wheel inside bet, covering 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3.
High or Low Bet
An outside bet covering either the top half of the numbers (19-36) or the bottom half of the numbers (1-28). Does not include either zero.
Inside Bet
One of six bets placed on or between any of the numbered boxes. If placed inside a box, it covers only one number. If placed on a line, it covers more than one number, depending on its placement. See straight up bet, split bet, street bet, corner bet, and square bet.
La Partage Rule
Applies to even-money bets. When the ball lands on zero, the player loses half of his or her bet instead of the entire bet. This rule reduces the house edge by 50% on even-money bets.
Outside Bet
Even money bets covering odd/even, high/low and red/black, and 2:1 payouts bets: dozen or column bets. See column bet, dozen bet, even or odd bet, red or black bet, and high or low bet.
Red or Black Bet
An outside bet covering all 18 red numbers or all 18 black numbers.
Single Zero Wheel
European or French roulette wheel with only a single 0 green pocket.
Sixainne
French: (Six) line bet. See Line Bet.
Six-Number Bet
An inside bet covering six numbers. Also called a line bet.
Spin
Each game in roulette is called a spin. Used as a verb, spin would mean to turn the wheel or the movement of the ball. The ball is spun on the outside, stationary rim of the roulette wheel.
Split Bet
An inside bet, placed on the line between two numbers, covering both numbers.
Roulette French Terms Meaning
Straight Bet
A single bet’either on a single number or a combination bet.
Straight Up Bet
An inside bet, placed on one number, Straight up bets have the highest odds and the highest payout.
Street Bet
An inside bet, placed at the end of a row, covering three numbers.
Trio Bet
An inside bet, covering three numbers. See street bet.
Transversale
French: Street bet.
Roulette French Terms Crossword
Wheel
The three-foot round device on which the ball spins, before landing in one of the pockets. Adjacent to or part of the table.
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Join Britannica's Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work!Roulette, (from French: “small wheel”), gambling game in which players bet on which red or black numbered compartment of a revolving wheel a small ball (spun in the opposite direction) will come to rest within. Bets are placed on a table marked to correspond with the compartments of the wheel. It is played in casinos worldwide. Roulette is a banking game, and all bets are placed against the bank—that is, the house, or the proprietor of the game. As a big-time betting game, it has had its popularity superseded in the United States and the Caribbean islands by others, notably craps, blackjack, and poker.
Fanciful stories about the origin of roulette include its invention by the 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal, by a French monk, and by the Chinese, from whom it was supposedly transmitted to France by Dominican monks. In reality, roulette was derived in France in the early 18th century from the older games hoca and portique, and it is first mentioned under its current name in 1716 in Bordeaux. Following several modifications, roulette achieved its present layout and wheel structure about 1790, after which it rapidly gained status as the leading game in the casinos and gambling houses of Europe. During the years 1836 to 1933, roulette was banned in France.
Equipment
The roulette table is composed of two sections, the wheel itself and the betting layout, better known as the roulette layout. There are two styles of roulette tables. One has a single betting layout with the roulette wheel at one end, and the other has two layouts with the wheel in the centre. The wheel spins horizontally.
Heading the layout design, which is printed on green baize, is a space containing the figure 0 (European style) or the figures 0 and 00 (American style, although such wheels were used also in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries). The main portion of the design is composed of 36 consecutively numbered rectangular spaces, alternately coloured red and black and arranged in three columns of 12 spaces each, beginning with 1 at the top and concluding with 36 at the bottom. Directly below the numbers are three blank spaces (on some layouts these are marked “2 to 1” and are located on the players’ side of the table). On either side of these or along one side of the columns are rectangular spaces marked “1st 12,” “2nd 12,” and “3rd 12” on American-style layouts. On European-style layouts these terms are “12p” (première), “12m” (milieu), and “12d” (dernière douzaine). Six more spaces are marked “red” (rouge), “black” (noir), “even” (pair), “odd” (impair), “1–18” (low, or manque), and “19–36” (high, or passe).
The roulette wheel consists of a solid wooden disk slightly convex in shape. Around its rim are metal partitions known as separators or frets, and the compartments or pockets between these are called canoes by roulette croupiers. Thirty-six of these compartments, painted alternately red and black, are numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. On European-style wheels a 37th compartment, painted green, carries the sign 0, and on American wheels two green compartments on opposite sides of the wheel carry the signs 0 and 00. The wheel, its spindle perfectly balanced, spins smoothly in an almost frictionless manner.
The standard roulette table employs up to 10 sets of wheel checks (usually called chips). Each set is differently coloured; each traditionally consists of 300 chips; and there is one set for each player. The chips usually have a single basic value, although some casinos also sell chips of lesser value. The colour of the chips indicates the player, not the value of the chips. If a player wishes to buy chips of slightly higher value, the croupier places a marker indicating that value on top of the table’s stack of chips of the colour corresponding to the chips purchased. Most casinos also have high-value chips that can be wagered at any gaming table. Unlike roulette chips, these have their numbered values printed on them.
Bets
It is possible to place the following bets in roulette: (1) straight, or single-number (en plein), in which the chips are placed squarely on one number of the layout, including 0 (and also 00 on American layouts), so that the chips do not touch any of the lines enclosing the number; a winning single-number bet pays 35 to 1 (for each unit bet, a winning player receives his original bet and 35 matching units); (2) split, or 2-number (à cheval), in which the chips are placed on any line separating any two numbers; if either wins, payoff odds are 17 to 1; (3) street, or 3-number (transversale pleine), in which the chips are placed on the outside line of the layout, betting the three numbers opposite the chips; payoff odds on any of the three numbers are 11 to 1; (4) square, quarter, corner, or 4-number (en carré), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the lines between any four numbers; payoff odds are 8 to 1; (5) line, or 6-number (sixaine or transversale six), in which the chips are placed on the intersection of the sideline and a line between two “streets”; payoff odds are 5 to 1; (6) column (colonne), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the three blank spaces (some layouts have three squares, marked “1st,” “2nd,” and “3rd”) at the bottom of the layout, thus betting the 12 numbers above the space; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (7) dozens (douzaine), or 12-number, in which the chips are placed on one of the spaces of the layout marked “12,” betting the numbers 1–12, 13–24, or 25–36; payoff odds are 2 to 1; (8) low-number or high-number, in which the chips are placed on the layout space marked “1–18” (manque) or on the space marked “19–36” (passe); payoff is even money; (9) black or red, in which the chips are placed on a space of the layout marked “black” (noir) or on a space marked “red” (rouge; some layouts have a large black or red diamond-shaped design instead of the words); payoff is even money; (10) odd-number or even-number, in which the chips are placed on the space of the layout marked “odd” (impair) or on the space marked “even” (pair); payoff is even money.
On layouts with a single zero (European style), the 0 may be included in a 2-number bet with any adjoining number, in a 3-number bet with 1 and 2 or with 2 and 3, and in a 4-number bet with 1, 2, and 3 at the regular odds for these bets. With the American-style 0 and 00, a 5-number line bet also is possible, the player placing his chips on the corner intersection of the line separating the 1, 2, 3 from the 0 and 00, with payoff odds of 6 to 1.
The play
The game begins when one of the croupiers (dealers) in attendance calls for the players to make their bets, which they do by placing chips on the spaces of the layout on any number, group, or classification they hope will win.
The croupier usually starts the wheel spinning in a counterclockwise direction and then spins a small ivory or plastic ball onto the bowl’s back track in the opposite direction. Players may continue to place bets while the wheel and ball are in motion until the ball slows down and is about to drop off the back track, at which time one of the croupiers announces that no more bets may be made.
When the ball falls and comes to rest between any two metal partitions of the wheel, it marks the winning number (or a 0 or 00), the winning colour, and any other permitted bet that pertains to a winning number or symbol. The dealer immediately announces the winning number and its colour and places a special marker on the corresponding number on the layout. He first collects all losing bets, not disturbing the chips that are resting on winning spaces, and then pays off any winning bets.
