chatoyant
French, adjective/ʃa.twa.jɑ̃/
chatoyant is spelled C-H-A-T-O-Y-A-N-T (9 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written French, the 80,980th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Chatoyant is a French adjective meaning “shimmering, iridescent” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a present participle of chatoyer. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui chatoie, qui semble changer de couleur, comme l’œil-de-chat, suivant les différents aspects sous lesquels…”.
What does chatoyant mean in English?
adjective
- 1
shimmering, iridescent
verb
- 1
present participle of chatoyer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui chatoie, qui semble changer de couleur, comme l’œil-de-chat, suivant les différents aspects sous lesquels il est vu, en parlant d’un objet, d’un être vivant ou d’une entité physique. 2. Se dit d’un style brillant et varié, fleuri, orné.
noun: 1. Ce qui chatoie, qui est chatoyant.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of chatoyant
- chatoyante feminine
- chatoyants masculine plural
- chatoyantes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce chatoyant?
- /ʃa.twa.jɑ̃/
- \ʃa.twa.jɑ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to chatoyant
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is chatoyant in French?
chatoyant appears about once in every 6 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).