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"Un cul-de-sac" is simply a road that just stops instead of going somewhere. It usually has a specific road sign to signal it. It's definitely used in (Swiss) French.

Does it mean something different in the US? And what would be the French equivalent then?

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The traditional US cul-de-sac is rounded at the end, and usually has a house at the end (the road was never intended to continue)

Here’s a fairly representative picture of the geometry: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS8zguy...

Yeah, that's what I imagined. I'd call that a cul-de-sac in French too, but there may be regional differences so I'm curious what GP means when he says the French don't use that word to describe this.

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