chahut

\ʃa.y\

/\ʃa.y\/ noun

The verdict

“chahut” is uncommon French (frequency #62,132 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,132
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Danse excentrique, proche du cancan, à la mode au XIXᵉ siècle dans les bals publics.

Corpus desk

Index FR-chahut · chahut · French

chahut · rank #62,132 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,132
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH chaldéens

Nearest frequency peer: chaldéens (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « chahut »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « chahut » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for chahut
PropertyValue
Headwordchahut
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃa.y\
Letters6
Frequency rank#62,132
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « chahut » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).chahuttombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « chaldéens » (#62,133), « cervelles » (#62,130), « chamailler » (#62,134). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chahut » est au #62,132. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

chahut is uncommon French at frequency #62,132 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃa.y\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for chahut in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is chahut, spelled C-H-A-H-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Danse excentrique, proche du cancan, à la mode au XIXᵉ siècle dans les bals publics.
  2. 2
    Désordre, tumulte d’écoliers.
  3. 3
    Perturbation volontaire d’un discours, d’un cours, etc.
  4. 4
    Perturbation émotionnelle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how chahut appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Une douzaine d’hommes et de femmes déguisés, à moitié ivres, se livraient avec emportement à cette danse folle et obscène appelée le chahut.
  2. Après avoir fait cercle avec des gens autour de trois quatre filles qui dansaient le chahut non sans grâce ni sans impudeur, nous étions allés nous asseoir à une petite table, tout près du petit salon qu’on trouve à l’entrée.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chahut"?
"chahut" is spelled C-H-A-H-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃa.y\.
What does "chahut" mean?
As a noun, "chahut" means: Danse excentrique, proche du cancan, à la mode au XIXᵉ siècle dans les bals publics.
How do you pronounce "chahut"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chahut" is \ʃa.y\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chahut" come from?
"chahut" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chahut", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list