cancre
French, noun/kɑ̃kʁ/
cancre is spelled C-A-N-C-R-E (6 letters) and appears about once in every 3 million words in written French, the 52,567th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Cancre is a French masculine noun meaning “blockhead, dunce, dolt” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Écrevisse, crabe”.
What does cancre mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineblockhead, dunce, dolt
- 2
datedmasculinecrayfish
- 3
masculineobsoletepauper
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Écrevisse, crabe. 2. Écolier avec qui les enseignants n’arrivent à rien. 3. Personne (morale ou physique) qui, dans un groupe, réussit le moins bien (ou échoue). 4. Homme avare, rapace et haïssable.
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 cancre
- cancres plural
- cancresse
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce cancre?
- /kɑ̃kʁ/
- \kɑ̃kʁ\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to cancre
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is cancre in French?
cancre appears about once in every 3 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).