chétif
French, adjective/ʃe.tif/
chétif is spelled C-H-É-T-I-F (6 letters) and appears about once in every 3 million words in written French, the 55,146th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Chétif is a French adjective meaning “puny, scrawny” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui est faible, frêle. – Note d’usage : Se dit des personnes ou des choses qui n’ont pas l’apparence ou les…”.
What does chétif mean in English?
adjective
- 1
puny, scrawny
- 2
meagre, paltry
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui est faible, frêle. – Note d’usage : Se dit des personnes ou des choses qui n’ont pas l’apparence ou les qualités, la force qu’elles devraient avoir.
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 chétif
- chétive feminine
- chétifs masculine plural
- chétives feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce chétif?
- /ʃe.tif/
- \ʃe.tif\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to chétif
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is chétif in French?
chétif appears about once in every 3 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).