canaille
French, noun/ka.naj/
canaille is spelled C-A-N-A-I-L-L-E (8 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written French, the 33,160th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Canaille is a French feminine noun meaning “rascal, blackguard, scoundrel, scum” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Vile populace”.
What does canaille mean in English?
noun
- 1
archaicderogatoryfemininerabble, riffraff
- 2
femininerascal, blackguard, scoundrel, scum
- 3
feminineclever person
- 4
femininetrickster, prankster
adjective
- 1
raffish
- 2
scoundrelly
- 3
cunning, tricky
- 4
mischievous
- 5
unruly
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Vile populace. 2. Personne malhonnête et méprisable. 3. Enfant turbulent, remuant. 4. Peut s'employer aussi avec une connotation affectueuse (généralement dans les expressions « petite canaille » et « vieille canaille »).
adjective: 1. Populacier, vulgaire, polisson.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of canaille
- canailles plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce canaille?
- France /ka.naj/
- France /ka.nɑj/
- /kɑ̃.naj/
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to canaille
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is canaille in French?
canaille appears about once in every 1 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).