couveuse

\ku.vøz\

/\ku.vøz\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“couveuse” is uncommon French (frequency #61,426 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,426
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Poule qui couve.

Corpus desk

Index FR-couveuse · couveuse · French

couveuse · rank #61,426 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,426
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH courtisée

Nearest frequency peer: courtisée (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « couveuse »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « couveuse » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for couveuse
PropertyValue
Headwordcouveuse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ku.vøz\
Letters8
Frequency rank#61,426
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « couveuse » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.couveusetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « courtisée » (#61,425), « CPS » (#61,427), « coupeurs » (#61,424). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « couveuse » est au #61,426. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

couveuse is uncommon French at frequency #61,426 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ku.vøz\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

couveuse doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is couveuse, spelled C-O-U-V-E-U-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Poule qui couve.
  2. 2
    Sorte d’étuve où on met les œufs à incuber.
  3. 3
    Étuve où l’on élève artificiellement les enfants nés avant terme.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cette poule est une bonne couveuse.
  2. Les couveuses, effarées un instant par le passage du cortège, traînaient de nouveau leurs ribambelles de poussins et, grattant le fumier, poussaient de temps à autre un gloussement vif, comme un appel.

Synonyms

incubateur

This word in other languages

brooder(English)incubadora(Español)Brutkasten(Deutsch)incubadora(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "couveuse"?
"couveuse" is spelled C-O-U-V-E-U-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ku.vøz\.
What does "couveuse" mean?
As a noun, "couveuse" means: Poule qui couve.
How do you pronounce "couveuse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "couveuse" is \ku.vøz\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "couveuse" come from?
"couveuse" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "couveuse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

coupeurs#61,424couchées#61,422creusait#61,431complote#61,413

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list