chai

/\ʃɛ\/ noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#26,999

in French word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

chai is aFrenchnoun. It means: Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave. Pronounced \ʃɛ\. Often confused with ci and cri.

Key facts for chai
PropertyValue
Headwordchai
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃɛ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#26,999
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of chai in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for chai is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃɛ\. Corpus data places it at rank #26,999 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for chai, with forms such as "cahi", "cchai", and "chhai". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ci", "cri", "cia", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is chai, spelled C-H-A-I, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave.
  2. 2
    Petit local de stockage, remise située en dehors de la maison et servant généralement à ranger du bois ou autres choses.
  3. 3
    Lieu d’affinage.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: cahi,cchai,chhai,chia,hcai

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for chai

Misspelling Variants of "chai"

cahi4cchai5chhai5chia4hcai4
Misspelling Variants of "chai"

Frequency rank: #26,999 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chai"?
"chai" is spelled C-H-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɛ\.
What does "chai" mean?
As a noun, "chai" means: Magasin au ras du sol, tenant lieu de cave.
What words are commonly confused with "chai"?
"chai" is commonly confused with "ci", "cri", "cia". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "chai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chai" is \ʃɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chai" come from?
"chai" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.