cens
French, noun/sɑ̃s/
cens is spelled C-E-N-S (4 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written French, the 39,702nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Cens is a French masculine noun meaning “census” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Redevance de toute nature que certains biens devaient annuellement au seigneur du fief dont ils relevaient”.
What does cens mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinecensus
- 2
masculinefeu-duty (annual rent paid by a tenant of a fief to his feudal lord)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Redevance de toute nature que certains biens devaient annuellement au seigneur du fief dont ils relevaient. 2. Quotité d’imposition qui, dans la constitution de certains pays, est nécessaire pour être électeur ou éligible. 3. Dénombrement des citoyens romains, déclaration authentique qu’ils faisaient, tous les cinq ans, de leurs noms, biens, résidence, etc.
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.
How do you pronounce cens?
- /sɑ̃s/
- \sɑ̃s\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is cens in French?
cens appears about once in every 2 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).