coupe-tête

\kup.tɛt\

/\kup.tɛt\/ noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Bourreau, parce qu’il avait souvent à décapiter les condamnés.

Corpus desk

Index FR-coupe-tete · coupe-tête · French

coupe-tête · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 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.

Key facts for coupe-tête
PropertyValue
Headwordcoupe-tête
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kup.tɛt\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « coupe-tête » en français

coupe-têten'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

coupe-tête is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \kup.tɛt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

coupe-tête has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, 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 spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is coupe-tête, spelled C-O-U-P-E---T-Ê-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Bourreau, parce qu’il avait souvent à décapiter les condamnés.
  2. 2
    Instrument tranchant utilisé par un bourreau pour couper la tête des condamnés.
  3. 3
    Jeu d’enfants qui consiste à sauter les uns par-dessus les autres pour progresser en distance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how coupe-tête appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Philippe. – Un Salviati jetant à la plus noble famille de Florence son gant taché de vin et de sang, et, lorsqu’on le châtie, tirant pour se défendre le coupe-tête du bourreau !
  2. Pour les deux autres, c'est plus grave : ils ont eu maille à partir avec la patrouille, et tout de suite après, avec le coupe-tête du bourreau de service.

Synonyms

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 "coupe-tête"?
"coupe-tête" is spelled C-O-U-P-E---T-Ê-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kup.tɛt\.
What does "coupe-tête" mean?
As a noun, "coupe-tête" means: Bourreau, parce qu’il avait souvent à décapiter les condamnés.
How do you pronounce "coupe-tête"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coupe-tête" is \kup.tɛt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "coupe-tête" come from?
"coupe-tête" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list