charbonner

Literally, to blacken something with charcoal or soot, or for food to char/burn while cooking. In contemporary informal French — especially in rap and youth slang — charbonner has taken on a second life meaning to hustle or work hard for money, from the expression aller au charbon (to go work the coal face, i.e., grind it out).

• Le poêlon a charbonné, la sauce a attaché. — The pan got scorched, the sauce stuck and burned.
• Il charbonne du matin au soir pour payer son loyer. — He hustles from morning to night to pay his rent.
• La fumée a charbonné le plafond de la cuisine. — The smoke blackened the kitchen ceiling with soot.

Context decides the meaning entirely — with food or soot it's literal charring or blackening, but in slang (especially heard in rap lyrics) it means grinding away at work; don't assume the informal 'hustle' sense in a cooking context or vice versa.

• expression "Aller au charbon" — The well-known idiom meaning to go do hard, unpleasant work — its origin is debated (coal-mining conditions, or early-1900s Parisian slang for taking on honest dock work) but the expression itself, and the verb charbonner it inspired, are well attested.