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What does “par terre” mean in French?

When something is lying on the floor, French does not usually reach for sur le sol. It says par terre: mon sac est par terre, il est tombé par terre, assieds-toi par terre. There is no article, no separate word for floor, and the preposition is par, not sur. Indoors or outdoors, those same two words cover it.

La terre stretches from the floor under your feet to soil in a plant pot and, capitalised, to the planet: la Terre. The near-twin à terre exists but is narrower, living mostly in fixed phrases such as mettre un genou à terre. When you do need to name the surface itself, the word is le sol — attention, le sol est mouillé.