chercher

/\ʃɛʁ.ʃe\/ verb

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#717

in French word usage

Misspellings

13

tracked variants

Confusables

11

similar word pairs

chercher is aFrenchverb. It means: Se donner du mouvement, du soin ou de la peine pour trouver quelqu’un ou quelque chose. Pronounced \ʃɛʁ.ʃe\. It ranks #717 in French word frequency. Often confused with cherchez and chercheur.

Key facts for chercher
PropertyValue
Headwordchercher
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ʃɛʁ.ʃe\
Letters8
Frequency rank#717
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of chercher in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for chercher is 8 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃɛʁ.ʃe\. Corpus data places it at rank #717 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for chercher, with forms such as "cchercher", "cehrcher", and "checrher". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "cherchez", "chercheur", "cherchera", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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 chercher, spelled C-H-E-R-C-H-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Se donner du mouvement, du soin ou de la peine pour trouver quelqu’un ou quelque chose.
  2. 2
    Chercher à se connaître ; faire une introspection de son âme.
  3. 3
    Se comporter comme pour essayer de trouver, en parlant de choses inanimées.
  4. 4
    Essayer de se procurer quelqu’un ou quelque chose, faire des efforts pour obtenir un certain résultat.
  5. 5
    Manquer de naturel, rechercher.
  6. 6
    Quand il est précédé du verbe aller, envoyer ou venir il signifie souvent aller trouver, venir trouver quelqu’un ou quelque chose, et se dit tant au propre qu’au figuré.
  7. 7
    Aller ou venir auprès d’une personne pour la conduire ensuite quelque part, ou pour l’avertir de s’y rendre.
  8. 8
    Aller en un lieu pour y prendre ou y recevoir quelque chose.
  9. 9
    Provoquer, chercher la bataille, vouloir se battre, vouloir le conflit.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: cchercher,cehrcher,checrher,cherccher,chercehr,chercherr,cherchher,cherchre,cherhcer,cherrcher,chhercher,chrecher,hcercher

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for chercher

Misspelling Variants of "chercher"

cchercher9cehrcher8checrher8cherccher9chercehr8chercherr9cherchher9cherchre8
Misspelling Variants of "chercher"

Frequency rank: #717 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chercher"?
"chercher" is spelled C-H-E-R-C-H-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɛʁ.ʃe\.
What does "chercher" mean?
As a verb, "chercher" means: Se donner du mouvement, du soin ou de la peine pour trouver quelqu’un ou quelque chose.
What words are commonly confused with "chercher"?
"chercher" is commonly confused with "cherchez", "chercheur", "cherchera". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "chercher"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chercher" is \ʃɛʁ.ʃe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chercher" come from?
"chercher" 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.

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. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.