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Louchébem orloucherbem (French pronunciation:[luʃebɛm]) isParisian andLyonnaisebutchers' (Frenchboucher)slang, similar toPig Latin andVerlan. It originated in the mid-19th century and was in common use until the 1950s.

Thelouchébem word-creation process resembles that oflargonji,verlan, andjavanais, in that existing words are camouflaged according to a set of rules. Strictly speaking,louchébem is a more rigid variety oflargonji in which the ending-èm is obligatory.Largonji substitutes⟨l⟩ for the consonant orconsonant cluster at the beginning of the word, or, if the word begins with an⟨l⟩ or a vowel, the second syllable; the initial consonant is then reattached to the end of the word along with asuffix particular to theargot:-ji[ʒi],-oc[ɔk],-ic[ik],-uche[yʃ],-ès[ɛs], or in the case of louchébem,-em/ème[ɛm].

Note thatlouchébem is first and foremost anoral language, and spelling is usuallyphoneticized.

Despite the name,louchébem seems to have been created not by butchers, but by inmates atBrest Prison, with records dating back to 1821.^[1]

Edmund Clerihew Bentley used the language as a plot point in his 1937 short story "The Old-Fashioned Apache".

During theNazi occupationlouchébem was used byParisian members of theResistance.

Even today,louchébem is still well-known and used among those working atpoint-of-sale in themeatretail industry. Some words have even leaked into common, everyday use by the masses; an example is the wordloufoque, meaning "eccentric".

Here are a few example Louchébem words.

There is another Frenchargot calledlargonji, which differs fromlouchébem only in the suffix that is added (-i instead of-em); the term is derived fromjargon.^[2]

• Marcel Schwob,Étude sur l’argot français. Paris: Émile Bouillon, 1889.

• "Le loucherbem" (in French). June 1997. Archived fromthe original on 2000-06-10.

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