chef-lieu de département
\ʃɛf.ljø də de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\
The verdict
“chef-lieu de département” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 24
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Commune où est située la préfecture d’un département.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chef-lieu de département |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʃɛf.ljø də de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 24 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chef-lieu de département” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
chef-lieu de département is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃɛf.ljø də de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Commune où est située la préfecture d’un département.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for chef-lieu de département, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is chef-lieu de département, spelled C-H-E-F---L-I-E-U- -D-E- -D-É-P-A-R-T-E-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Commune où est située la préfecture d’un département.
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
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Using “chef-lieu de département”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-H-E-F---L-I-E-U- -D-E- -D-É-P-A-R-T-E-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʃɛf.ljø də de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\ (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
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.