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french

/fɹɛnt͡ʃ/verb

french is spelled F-R-E-N-C-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 123 times per million words in written English, the 851st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, french means “To prepare food by cutting it into strips” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in french?

Letters6: F-R-E-N-C-H
Syllables1
In writing123 times per million words; the 851st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is french?

French appears 123 times per million words in written English, the 851st 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 french?

  • US /fɹɛnt͡ʃ/
  • US [fɹ̠ɛn̠t͡ʃ]

French has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-French.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-french.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-french.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with french?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as french from its last stressed vowel (/ɛntʃ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of french

  • frenches present, singular, he/she/it
  • frenching participle, present
  • frenched participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does french mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To prepare food by cutting it into strips.

  2. 2

    To kiss (another person) while inserting one’s tongue into the other person's mouth.

  3. 3

    To kiss in this manner.

  4. 4

    To French trim; to stylishly expose bone by removing the fat and meat covering it (as done to a rack of lamb or bone-in rib-eye steak).

noun

as French
  1. 1

    The people of France; groups of French people.

    The Hundred Years' War was fought between the English and the French.

  2. 2

    datedslangSynonym of oral sex, especially fellatio.

  3. 3

    datedslangEllipsis of French vermouth, a type of dry vermouth.

  4. 4

    A French person.

adjective

as French
  1. 1

    Of or relating to France.

    the French border with Italy

  2. 2

    Of or relating to the people or culture of France.

    French customs

  3. 3

    Of or relating to the French language.

    French verbs

  4. 4

    slangOf or related to oral sex, especially fellatio.

    French active

  5. 5

    informalUsed to form names or references to venereal diseases.

    French disease

  6. 6

    Used to form names or references to an unconventional or fancy style.

    French curve

verb

as French
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of french.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

French in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfrançais, Français (people of France, collectively), émincer (prepare food by cutting it into strips), manchonner ((cooking) stylishly expose bone)
Germandie Franzosen (people of France, collectively), französisch (of or relating to France)
Portuguesefranceses (people of France, collectively), francês (of or relating to France)
Spanishfranceses (people of France, collectively), francés (of or relating to France)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does french come from?

From Middle English French, Frensch, Frensh, from Old English Frencisc (“of the Franks, Frankish, French”), from Franca (“a Frank”). Compare Old High German Franko (“a Frank”), akin to Old English franca (“javelin, spear”), from the use of such weapons by the Franks.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after french