cheval de trait

\ʃə.val də tʁɛ\

/\ʃə.val də tʁɛ\/ noun

The verdict

“cheval de trait” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Cheval sélectionné pour ses aptitudes à la traction de véhicules (voitures) et de matériaux de toutes sortes, appartenant à une race puissante, de grande taille et calme : attelage, travail agricol...

Key facts for cheval de trait
PropertyValue
Headwordcheval de trait
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃə.val də tʁɛ\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “cheval de trait” sits in French frequency

cheval de trait 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.

Rare enough to double-check

cheval de trait is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃə.val də tʁɛ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Cheval sélectionné pour ses aptitudes à la traction de véhicules (voitures) et de matériaux de toutes sortes, appartenant à une race puissante, de grande taille et calme : attelage, travail agricol...".

cheval de trait doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is cheval de trait, spelled C-H-E-V-A-L- -D-E- -T-R-A-I-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cheval sélectionné pour ses aptitudes à la traction de véhicules (voitures) et de matériaux de toutes sortes, appartenant à une race puissante, de grande taille et calme : attelage, travail agricole des champs (labour) ou des forêts (débardage), et aussi souvent tourisme attelé (traction de roulotte ou de chariot bâché), boucherie (viande).

Synonyms

Antonyms

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cheval de trait"?
"cheval de trait" is spelled C-H-E-V-A-L- -D-E- -T-R-A-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃə.val də tʁɛ\.
What does "cheval de trait" mean?
As a noun, "cheval de trait" means: Cheval sélectionné pour ses aptitudes à la traction de véhicules (voitures) et de matériaux de toutes sortes, appartenant à une race puissante, de grande taille et calme : attelage, travail agricol...
How do you pronounce "cheval de trait"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cheval de trait" is \ʃə.val də tʁɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cheval de trait" come from?
"cheval de trait" 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 “cheval de trait”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is C-H-E-V-A-L- -D-E- -T-R-A-I-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʃə.val də tʁɛ\ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list