couvade
/kuːˈvɑːd/noun
couvade is spelled C-O-U-V-A-D-E: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 49 million words in written English, the 217,360th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, couvade means “A practice among some peoples, such as the Basques, of the husband of a woman in the last stages of pregnancy taking to bed, avoiding certain foods…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of couvade is couvades.
How many letters and syllables are in couvade?
| Letters | 7: C-O-U-V-A-D-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 49 million words; the 217,360th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is couvade?
Couvade appears about once in every 49 million words in written English, the 217,360th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce couvade?
- /kuːˈvɑːd/
- /kuːˈvæd/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of couvade
- couvades plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does couvade mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A practice among some peoples, such as the Basques, of the husband of a woman in the last stages of pregnancy taking to bed, avoiding certain foods, or imitating other behaviours of a pregnant woman.
- 2
Sympathetic pregnancy: the involuntary sympathetic experience of the husband of symptoms of his wife's pregnancy, such as weight gain or morning sickness.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does couvade come from?
From French couvade (“brooding”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).