chausse-trape

\ʃos.tʁap\

/\ʃos.tʁap\/ noun

The verdict

“chausse-trape” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pièce de fer garnie de pointes qu’on jetait dans les gués, sur les routes, et où hommes et chevaux s’enferraient.

Key facts for chausse-trape
PropertyValue
Headwordchausse-trape
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃos.tʁap\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “chausse-trape” sits in French frequency

chausse-trape falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for chausse-trape is 13 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃos.tʁap\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for chausse-trape in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

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 chausse-trape, spelled C-H-A-U-S-S-E---T-R-A-P-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pièce de fer garnie de pointes qu’on jetait dans les gués, sur les routes, et où hommes et chevaux s’enferraient.
  2. 2
    Trou qui cache un piège pour prendre les animaux.
  3. 3
    Piège tendu à quelqu’un.
  4. 4
    Meuble représentant l’arme du même nom dans les armoiries. Elle est généralement représentée sous la forme d'un ensemble de 4 pointes, 3 servant de base (dont une de front, les autres de profil) et une orientée vers le chef. Elle est parfois confondue à tort avec un fer de lance ou de pique. En héraldique, l’orthographe traditionnellement utilisée est chausse-trappe.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “chausse-trape, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/chausse-trape

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chausse-trape"?
"chausse-trape" is spelled C-H-A-U-S-S-E---T-R-A-P-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃos.tʁap\.
What does "chausse-trape" mean?
As a noun, "chausse-trape" means: Pièce de fer garnie de pointes qu’on jetait dans les gués, sur les routes, et où hommes et chevaux s’enferraient.
How do you pronounce "chausse-trape"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chausse-trape" is \ʃos.tʁap\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chausse-trape" come from?
"chausse-trape" 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.

Using “chausse-trape”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is C-H-A-U-S-S-E---T-R-A-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʃos.tʁap\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

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. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list