Materialuelle

Materialuelle is the feminine form of the French adjective matériel, meaning material, physical, or pertaining to matter. It is used to describe tangible items, substances, or aspects connected to physical reality, as well as the infrastructure and resources that support activities.

In academic discourse, the expression culture matérielle is a central term in anthropology and archaeology. It refers to the material culture of a society—the artefacts, tools, architecture, and other physical remnants that reveal how people lived, worked, and organized their world. Materialuelle is also used in everyday French to describe feminine nouns that denote material things, such as une ressource matérielle or une réalité matérielle.

Grammatical usage: materialelle agrees with feminine nouns. Examples include une ressource matérielle, une réalité matérielle, and l’infrastructure matérielle. Plural forms are ressources matérielles, réalités matérielles, infrastructures matérielles. When the noun is masculine, the masculine form matériel is used instead, as in matériel informatique or équipements matériels.

In accounting and business, the distinction between tangible and intangible assets is expressed through the pair ressources matérielles et immatérielles. Materialuelle thus appears in discussions of physical assets, while immatérielle covers intangible assets like software, trademarks, or intellectual property.

Overall, materialulle functions as a gendered descriptor for the material, tangible side of reality and is especially prominent in discussions of culture, infrastructure, and assets.