château de cartes

noun

The verdict

“château de cartes” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Empilement construit avec des cartes à jouer qui s’écroule très facilement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-chateau-de-cartes · château de cartes · French

château de cartes · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 17 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for château de cartes
PropertyValue
Headwordchâteau de cartes
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « château de cartes » en français

château de cartesreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

château de cartes is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

château de cartes has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is château de cartes, spelled C-H-Â-T-E-A-U- -D-E- -C-A-R-T-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Empilement construit avec des cartes à jouer qui s’écroule très facilement.
  2. 2
    Structure fragile.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. M. Nicole était un être de quatre pieds et demi au plus, d'une maigreur étique, à demi contrefait et qui, debout, semblait un château de cartes mal étayé.
  2. La façon dont Donald Trump a stimulé la croissance laisse craindre que l’on se retrouve face à un château de cartes qui peut s’effondrer à tout moment.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "château de cartes"?
"château de cartes" is spelled C-H-Â-T-E-A-U- -D-E- -C-A-R-T-E-S.
What does "château de cartes" mean?
As a noun, "château de cartes" means: Empilement construit avec des cartes à jouer qui s’écroule très facilement.
What language does "château de cartes" come from?
"château de cartes" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list