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ch

French, noun

ch is spelled C-H (2 letters) and appears 23 times per million words in written French, the 3,391st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ch is a French masculine noun meaning “abbreviation of cheval-vapeur (“horsepower, hp”)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, CH is a different word: “initialism of centre hospitalier (literally “hospital center”)”. On this page, ch. is a different word: “alternative form of ch (“horsepower, hp”)”. On this page, ch' is a different word: “clitic form of je”.

What does ch mean in English?

adjective

  1. 1

    abbreviation of chaque (“each, ea”).

noun

  1. 1

    masculineabbreviation of cheval-vapeur (“horsepower, hp”).

noun

as CH
  1. 1

    masculineinitialism of centre hospitalier (literally “hospital center”)

  2. 2

    masculineinitialism of club de hockey (“hockey club”); HC

  3. 3

    masculineinitialism of club de hockey sur glace

  4. 4

    masculinealternative letter-case form of ch (“horsepower”)

adjective

as ch.
  1. 1

    alternative form of ch (“each, ea.”)

noun

as ch.
  1. 1

    masculinealternative form of ch (“horsepower, hp”)

  2. 2

    masculineabbreviation of chemin

noun

as ch.
  1. 1

    feminineabbreviation of chambre (“room, rm.”)

pronoun

as ch'
  1. 1

    informalclitic form of je

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Dilution d’un facteur cent à chaque étape, utilisée en homéopathie.

symbol: 1. Code du quartier d’immatriculation de Cherbourg.

symbol: 1. Autre symbole du cheval-vapeur, lorsqu’il est tronqué à chevaux.

verb: 1. de chier.

pronoun: 1. Élision du pronom personnel je devant une consonne ou en omettant cette consonne. On peut l’utiliser à l’écrit pour imiter le langage familier, mais on écrit plutôt j’.

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 ch

  • CHs plural
  • ch. alternative
  • ch... canonical
  • c
  • j’
  • je

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to ch

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is ch in French?

ch appears 23 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).

What to look up after ch