chantonner

\ʃɑ̃.tɔ.ne\

/\ʃɑ̃.tɔ.ne\/ verb

The verdict

“chantonner” is uncommon French (frequency #98,873 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#98,873
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chanter à mi-voix, de manière décontractée.

Corpus desk

Index FR-chantonner · chantonner · French

chantonner · rank #98,873 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #98,873
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH charmeurs

Nearest frequency peer: charmeurs (+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 « chantonner »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for chantonner
PropertyValue
Headwordchantonner
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ʃɑ̃.tɔ.ne\
Letters10
Frequency rank#98,873
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « chantonner » en français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « charmeurs » (#98,874), « chalutage » (#98,871), « chassons » (#98,875). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chantonner » est au #98,873. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

chantonner is uncommon French at frequency #98,873 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ʃɑ̃.tɔ.ne\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Chanter à mi-voix, de manière décontractée.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for chantonner, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is chantonner, spelled C-H-A-N-T-O-N-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chanter à mi-voix, de manière décontractée.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il fallait une bien brillante affaire pour qu’Anthelme Féraud chantonnât aussi fort et aussi faux. De fait, il avait, dans la journée, enlevé une commission de trois cents pièces à ses plus redoutables concurrents, […].
  2. Je me souviens qu’en revenant de la gare je fis se retourner une dame, parce que je chantonnais, en marchant, un passage de la Messe des morts.

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 "chantonner"?
"chantonner" is spelled C-H-A-N-T-O-N-N-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɑ̃.tɔ.ne\.
What does "chantonner" mean?
As a verb, "chantonner" means: Chanter à mi-voix, de manière décontractée.
How do you pronounce "chantonner"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chantonner" is \ʃɑ̃.tɔ.ne\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chantonner" come from?
"chantonner" 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 "chantonner", 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