chamailler

\ʃa.mɑ.je\

/\ʃa.mɑ.je\/ verb

The verdict

“chamailler” is uncommon French (frequency #62,134 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,134
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Contester, disputer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-chamailler · chamailler · French

chamailler · rank #62,134 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,134
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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 « chamailler »

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 « chamailler » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for chamailler
PropertyValue
Headwordchamailler
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ʃa.mɑ.je\
Letters10
Frequency rank#62,134
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « chamailler » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).chamaillertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « chaldéens » (#62,133), « changing » (#62,135), « chahut » (#62,132). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chamailler » est au #62,134. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

chamailler is uncommon French at frequency #62,134 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ʃa.mɑ.je\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for chamailler, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is chamailler, spelled C-H-A-M-A-I-L-L-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Contester, disputer.
  2. 2
    Se battre pêle-mêle, se disputer avec beaucoup de bruit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. — Mascarille, en tout cas, l’espoir où je me fonde, Nous irons bien armés ; et si quelqu’un nous gronde, Nous nous chamaillerons. — Oui, voilà justement Ce que votre valet ne prétend nullement : Moi, chamailler, bon Dieu ! Suis-je un Roland, mon maître, Ou quelque Ferragu ? C’est fort mal me connoître.
  2. — Mon cher, vous n’allez pas me chamailler pour des mots que j’emploie, s’écria-t-il en haussant le ton. Je ne joue jamais sur les mots, mais je me sers de ceux qui me sont commodes.

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 "chamailler"?
"chamailler" is spelled C-H-A-M-A-I-L-L-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃa.mɑ.je\.
What does "chamailler" mean?
As a verb, "chamailler" means: Contester, disputer.
How do you pronounce "chamailler"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chamailler" is \ʃa.mɑ.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chamailler" come from?
"chamailler" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "chamailler", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list