cachou

\ka.ʃu\

/\ka.ʃu\/ noun

The verdict

“cachou” is uncommon French (frequency #83,681 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,681
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Substance brune et astringente composée d'un tannin, appelé acide japonique ou catéchine ; on l'extrait des gousses de différents arbres : Senegalia catechu ou cachoutier, Areca catechu ^([2]) ou p...

Corpus desk

Index FR-cachou · cachou · French

cachou · rank #83,681 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,681
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH calmons

Nearest frequency peer: calmons (+1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « cachou »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « cachou » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cachou
PropertyValue
Headwordcachou
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.ʃu\
Letters6
Frequency rank#83,681
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « cachou » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).cachoutombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « calmons » (#83,682), « cacaoyer » (#83,679), « calmées » (#83,683). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « cachou » est au #83,681. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cachou is uncommon French at frequency #83,681 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.ʃu\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for cachou, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is cachou, spelled C-A-C-H-O-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Substance brune et astringente composée d'un tannin, appelé acide japonique ou catéchine ; on l'extrait des gousses de différents arbres : Senegalia catechu ou cachoutier, Areca catechu ^([2]) ou palmier à bétel et d'une plante : Uncaria gambir ou gambier ;
  2. 2
    Petits grains ou pastilles agréables au goût, contenant cet extrait.
  3. 3
    Couleur, dont la description est variable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cachou appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Selon Kerr, le cachou de l’acacia était autrefois préparé avec le cœur du bois de l’arbre, que l’on réduit en copeaux et que l’on fait bouillir dans des vases en terre, jusqu’à réduction de moitié de l’eau employée et dessiccation au soleil.
  2. On allie le cachou au sucre pour en rendre l’emploi plus agréable. C’est à cette préparation qu’il faut rapporter les pastilles de cachou, les grains de cachou et le sirop.

Synonyms

catéchuterra japonica

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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cachou"?
"cachou" is spelled C-A-C-H-O-U. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.ʃu\.
What does "cachou" mean?
As a noun, "cachou" means: Substance brune et astringente composée d'un tannin, appelé acide japonique ou catéchine ; on l'extrait des gousses de différents arbres : Senegalia catechu ou cachoutier, Areca catechu ^([2]) ou p...
How do you pronounce "cachou"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cachou" is \ka.ʃu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cachou" come from?
"cachou" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cachou", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list