Vichy is a small city in the middle of France. It is old and famous for its hot spring water — people went there to drink the water and to rest, and you can still buy bottled Vichy water and Vichy beauty products with the name on them.

But when English speakers say "Vichy", they almost always mean something darker. In 1940 Germany's army took most of France. The French government moved to this quiet spa city and, from there, ran what was left of the country — but it did what Germany told it to do. So people say "the Vichy government", or call the country in those years "Vichy France", to name that government and that time. It lasted from 1940 to 1944.

Many French people at the time did not accept it. They said it was not the real France, only men doing Germany's work while wearing French clothes. That feeling stayed in the word. So "Vichy" now carries a smell of shame: of a government that gave in, and of people who worked with an enemy to keep their own place safe.

Because of that, people sometimes use it outside history. If a writer calls someone "a Vichy figure", they are not talking about France at all — they mean this person is on the wrong side and is helping the powerful hurt their own people. This is a strong insult, and educated speakers use it carefully. It is a formal, book-and-newspaper word; you will meet it in history class and in serious writing far more than in daily talk.

One more thing worth knowing: whether the Vichy leaders were traitors, or were trying to protect France in a terrible situation, is still argued about in France today. The word is not neutral, and that is part of the word.