cahin-caha
\ka.ɛ̃.ka.a\
The verdict
“cahin-caha” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. 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) - Se dit des choses qui vont inégalement ou que l’on fait difficilement, à plusieurs reprises, de mauvaise grâce.
Corpus desk
Index FR-cahin-caha · cahin-caha · French
cahin-caha · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cahin-caha |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ka.ɛ̃.ka.a\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « cahin-caha » en français
Rare enough to double-check
cahin-caha is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ka.ɛ̃.ka.a\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Se dit des choses qui vont inégalement ou que l’on fait difficilement, à plusieurs reprises, de mauvaise grâce.".
cahin-caha doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is cahin-caha, spelled C-A-H-I-N---C-A-H-A.
Definition
- 1Se dit des choses qui vont inégalement ou que l’on fait difficilement, à plusieurs reprises, de mauvaise grâce.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cahin-caha appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Hurlant, beuglant, glapissant, tous clopin-clopant, cahin-caha, se ruant vers la lumière, et vautrés dans la fange comme des limaces après la pluie.
Rien n’est triste dans un duel comme une guimbarde qui s’avance cahin-caha : il ne faut pas arriver en casse-cou, mais il ne faut pas arriver en invalide.
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.