How do you say a "half-bottle" of wine?

JohnC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

How do you say a "half-bottle" of wine?

In the US we call the 375ml-sized bottle a "half-bottle." Is there an equivalent in French that does not mean "half a bottle" but refers to the size of the bottle?
Asked 7 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour John,

Now that's an interesting topic!

Here's what I can say for sure: when you consider a half bottle, as in half full, you will use "une demie bouteille".
Now if you're talking about those smaller bottles you can buy in shops, we don't really have a specific word for them, other than "une petite bouteille de vin" or again "une demie bouteille de vin".
You can refer to "un demi" when you order what is equivalent to half a pint [more for beer though] or about 25cl / a quarter of a litre.

Voilà ! I hope that answers your question! 

JaniceC1Kwiziq community member

Hi, I had a similar question but with baguettes. The half-baguette/demi-baguette distinction is confusing me too. In the UK you can ask for a half-baguette as a unit of sandwich or for your soup. From your answer Aurelie, i guess that this doesn’t exist? To me, a half-baguette is not the same as half a baguette. One is a smaller (entire) loaf. So when i translate la moities de la baguette, i am fine, its a baguette that you have cut in half. When i say a demi-baguette, however, i dont mentally cut a longer loaf in half (like ‘the French’ do) i buy a little one, like John expects a small bottle of wine, not a half-drunk one ;-D Is this correct. In other words, we anglophones need to forget our half-sized things? 

How do you say a "half-bottle" of wine?

In the US we call the 375ml-sized bottle a "half-bottle." Is there an equivalent in French that does not mean "half a bottle" but refers to the size of the bottle?

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