le championnat = championship, which in France (as in most of Europe) can only mean one thing: football! (a.k.a proper football, a.k.a. soccer).
The word is (quite obviously) derived from
un champion (pronounced
sh-an-pee-on) /
une championne which means (quite obviously again) a champion.
If you're not following France's championship, I don't blame you, it can be both boring (Lyon coming first seven years in a row?) and exciting - like this year, with next week-end's games deciding both the 1st place (between Lyon and Bordeaux) and the last team falling to second division (between Lens, Toulouse and
Paris-Saint Germain).
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Posted By Mandor to
French Word of the Day at 5/12/2008 10:20:00 PM