chauve-souris
\ʃov.su.ʁi\
The verdict
“chauve-souris” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Genre de mammifère volant, de l’ordre des Chiroptères, aux ailes membraneuses qui ressemble à une souris par la forme et la grosseur de son corps.
Corpus desk
Index FR-chauve-souris · chauve-souris · French
chauve-souris · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-6 6 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chauve-souris |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʃov.su.ʁi\ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « chauve-souris » en français
Rare enough to double-check
chauve-souris is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃov.su.ʁi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
chauve-souris has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is chauve-souris, spelled C-H-A-U-V-E---S-O-U-R-I-S.
Definition
- 1Genre de mammifère volant, de l’ordre des Chiroptères, aux ailes membraneuses qui ressemble à une souris par la forme et la grosseur de son corps.
- 2Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries. Elle est généralement représentée de face, ailes étendues (parfois surqualifiée de volante).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chauve-souris appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
On constate, en outre, que la chauve-souris peut voler malgré l’ablation d’une notable étendue de la membrane de ses ailes, pourvu que la partie restante corresponde aux espaces interdigitaux.
Le ciel était encore clair, et les chauves-souris, les souris volantes, comme on dit là-bas, le rayaient de leur vol saccadé.
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.