caducée

Name: caducée, French Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

\ka.dy.se\

/\ka.dy.se\/ noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“caducée” is uncommon French (frequency #92,511 among 257,141 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,511
frequency rank, French: 257,141
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Baguette ou bâton de laurier ou d’olivier, parfois surmonté de deux ailes, et entouré de deux serpents venimeux entrelacés que la mythologie donne pour attribut à Hermès, Mercure et Iris, symbole a...

Key facts for caducée
Property	Value
Headword	caducée
Language	French
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	\ka.dy.se\
Letters	7
Frequency rank	#92,511
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “caducée” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). caducée lands here:

#92,511

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

caducée is uncommon French at frequency #92,511 among 257,141 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.dy.se\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for caducée, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is caducée, spelled C-A-D-U-C-É-E.

Definition

1
Baguette ou bâton de laurier ou d’olivier, parfois surmonté de deux ailes, et entouré de deux serpents venimeux entrelacés que la mythologie donne pour attribut à Hermès, Mercure et Iris, symbole antique des messagers et hérauts.
2
Bâton d’Asclépios ou d’Esculape, attribut mythologique de ces dieux, et symbole de la médecine et des médecins, représenté par un bâton non ailé autour duquel s’enroule une couleuvre d’Esculape.
3
Terme désignant l’insigne que certains professionnels de santé en exercice peuvent apposer sur leur pare-brise pour bénéficier de tolérances en matière de stationnement.
4
Coupe d’Hygie, attribut mythologique de la déesse Hygie, représentée par une coupe surmontée d’une couleuvre d’Esculape, symbole des pharmaciens.
5
Bâton couvert de velours et fleurdelisé que portaient le roi d’armes et les hérauts d’armes dans les grandes cérémonies.
6
Meuble représentant le bâton de Mercure du même nom dans les armoiries.

Synonyms

baguette d’Hermèsbaguette de Mercurebâton d’Hermèsbâton de Mercuresceptre d’Hermès

This word in other languages

caduceus(English)caduceo(Español)Hermesstab(Deutsch)

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 "caducée"?

"caducée" is spelled C-A-D-U-C-É-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.dy.se\.

What does "caducée" mean?

As a noun, "caducée" means: Baguette ou bâton de laurier ou d’olivier, parfois surmonté de deux ailes, et entouré de deux serpents venimeux entrelacés que la mythologie donne pour attribut à Hermès, Mercure et Iris, symbole a...

How do you pronounce "caducée"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "caducée" is \ka.dy.se\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "caducée" come from?

"caducée" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.

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.

Using “caducée”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

The one correct French spelling is C-A-D-U-C-É-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as \ka.dy.se\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Other uncommon French words near this rank

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.