c’est cela

\sɛ sla\

/\sɛ sla\/ intj

The verdict

“c’est cela” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Manière d’exprimer le consentement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-c-est-cela · c’est cela · French

c’est cela · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for c’est cela
PropertyValue
Headwordc’est cela
LanguageFrench
Part of speechInterjection
IPA\sɛ sla\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “c’est cela” se place dans la fréquence du français

c’est celareste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

c’est cela is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection, transcribed \sɛ sla\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for c’est cela, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is c’est cela, spelled C-’-E-S-T- -C-E-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Manière d’exprimer le consentement.
  2. 2
    Exprime le scepticisme.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "c’est cela"?
"c’est cela" is spelled C-’-E-S-T- -C-E-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛ sla\.
What does "c’est cela" mean?
As an interjection, "c’est cela" means: Manière d’exprimer le consentement.
How do you pronounce "c’est cela"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "c’est cela" is \sɛ sla\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "c’est cela" come from?
"c’est cela" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

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Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list