cause
French, noun
cause is spelled C-A-U-S-E (5 letters) and appears 251 times per million words in written French, the 335th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Cause is a French feminine noun meaning “cause” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of causer. With an accent, causé is a different word: “past participle of causer”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Ce qui fait qu’une chose est ou s’opère”.
What does cause mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininecause
- 2
femininecase (a legal proceeding)
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- 2
second-person singular imperative
verb
- 1
past participle of causer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Ce qui fait qu’une chose est ou s’opère. 2. Ce qui produit ou occasionne, en parlant des personnes ou des choses. 3. Raison, sujet, motif. 4. Cause d’une obligation, avantage moral ou matériel que se propose le·a contractant·e : dans le contrat à titre onéreux, l’équivalent de l’obligation de l’autre partie ; dans le contrat à titre gratuit, la bienfaisance.
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 cause
- causes plural
- causée feminine
- causés masculine plural
- causées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to cause
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is cause in French?
cause appears 251 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).