# clé (clef) USB



## klari

Bonjour,

Comment dirait on clé USB en anglais?
Merci,
K.

*Note des modérateurs : *nous avons fusionné plusieurs discussions pour créer ce fil.


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## denis-a-paris

USB key! (Oui, c'est vrai)


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## blinnith

"USB key", faut pas chercher loin...
a la rigueur "memory key" si tu ne veux pas dire USB.


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## judkinsc

Thumb drive, fairly often.


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## Reving Lane

I've also heard USB drive and flash drive, but I think thumb drive is more common.


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## mingze13

Also jump drive.

Anne


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## polarboi

Yeah, just to make things more complicated:  I use 'PEN DRIVE'.  Mwahahahahahaha....

JONO


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## u18ca2

Also USB stick!


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## Lazulilasher

Where I live (New York City) we say USB card...though I have friends that say "jump drive and my father says "memory stick"...card/key/stick are interchangeable, I think.


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## giannid

It's not a Memory Stick because that's the thin stick that you put into a digital camera and not into a USB slot.


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## Nicomon

Reving Lane said:


> I've also heard USB drive and flash drive, but I think thumb drive is more common.


 
Actually... I think thumb drive is used by the "younger generation". That's what my son (30) says. Though I recently started saying it too.  

A google search gave me the following hits:
Flash drive: 13,600,000
USB drive: 6,300,000
Pen drive: 5,130,000
USB key: 2,510,000
Thumb drive: 1,070,000

Hits for jump drive (less than 500,000) are irrelevant, because the expression also has something to do with cars. 

I have a feeling USB cards and/or memory stick are something else though. Then again, I am not an IT expert... far from it.


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## alisonp

I wish I knew!  It would make trawling round computer shopping websites trying to find the wretched things much easier if people would decide on a standardised term.  As it is, it can be pretty much hit and miss: flash drive, USB key, USB stick, USB drive (all used on one retailer's website!), pen drive.  Must admit that I hadn't heard of thumb/jump drive before - could it be US usage?  Then of course there are the various trademarks too ...

And if you go into a shop you have to be careful that you don't end up with something for storing digital camera photos on.  It can be something of a nightmare!


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## Nadia erasmus

bonjour !

How do we say "clef usb" in english?

Thank you


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## gallhammer

je crois qu'on dit usb-stick


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## snarkhunter

Bonjour,

A la base, c'est tout simplement "usb key". Après, il existe des variations (telles que "memory stick", etc) mais, fondamentalement, cela s'applique à des produits légèrement différents.


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## broglet

snarkhunter said:


> Bonjour,
> 
> A la base, c'est tout simplement "usb key". Après, il existe des variations (telles que "memory stick"  etc) mais, fondamentalement, cela s'applique à des produits légèrement différents.


or travel drive or flash drive


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## gallhammer

wikipedia dit "USB flash drive"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive


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## Nadia erasmus

Merci !!!!


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## SolangeC

I have even heard it called a "nerd stick"! Ha!


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## JeffTesla

Most people say "flash drive" or just "a usb."
Some call it the rather silly word "dongle."


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## Matcauthon

giannid said:


> It's not a Memory Stick because that's the thin stick that you put into a digital camera and not into a USB slot.


Memory stick can easily refer to a USB key/drive/stick. I would call the thin thing that you put into a camera a "card" (memory card).

Here is a google image search for "memory stick" (you see both camera "cards" and USB keys)


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## La_Saboteuse

I have always said "flash drive" and rarely hear the others.


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## broglet

I've never heard 'thumb drive' OR 'USB key' in the UK - I would say 'USB memory stick' (even though it could be confused with 'Memory Stick' which is used by Sony for its camera memory cards)


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## keumar83

*USB flash drive*, according to Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive


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## sebweb2

I'm adding " flash disk " to the list.

I'm French but live in the US and have heard " jump drive " for the first time yesterday, I was like "what is that?!"
Do you really need a dozen terms to talk about the same item? For Pete's sake!


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## iosonolobo

Nicomon said:


> Hits for jump drive (less than 500,000) are irrelevant, because the expression also has something to do with cars.



Your local Google servers are optimized for your region, even if the URL says google.com. So you may be getting a Canadian slant with your search. My own search on the terms "jump drive usb" (without quotation marks), from California, turned up over 1.13 million hits.

I would call it a "memory stick" or, in shorthand fast-talk, simply a "stick" as in "Do you have a stick? I need to copy some files." 

Also "USB stick" and "USB memory" are used a lot.

I have *never *heard it called a "key" (as in "USB key" or any other sort of key).


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## LART01

It is called different names in different countries
For instance _flash stick_ is used in Australia ( the other names as well)


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## SolangeC

And my absolute favorite: my friend Erica calls it a "nerd stick". Why I don't know, but gotta love it!


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## arsham

I have heard memory stick and flash drive quiet often!


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