dessécher

\de.se.ʃe\

/\de.se.ʃe\/ verb

The verdict

“dessécher” is uncommon French (frequency #66,656 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,656
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rendre sec.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dessecher · dessécher · French

dessécher · rank #66,656 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,656
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH descent

Nearest frequency peer: descent (-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 « dessécher »

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 « dessécher » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dessécher
PropertyValue
Headworddessécher
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\de.se.ʃe\
Letters9
Frequency rank#66,656
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dessécher » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).desséchertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « descent » (#66,655), « diasporas » (#66,657), « Dietz » (#66,659). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dessécher » est au #66,656. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dessécher is uncommon French at frequency #66,656 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \de.se.ʃe\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for dessécher, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is dessécher, spelled D-E-S-S-É-C-H-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rendre sec.
  2. 2
    Mettre à sec.
  3. 3
    Exténuer, amaigrir, consumer.
  4. 4
    Rendre sec, peu fourni.
  5. 5
    Devenir sec.
  6. 6
    Désirer quelque chose avec impatience, au point d’en maigrir.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Vous verrez des femmes faisant du bois, c’est-à-dire collant des bouses de vache le long des murs pour les dessécher et les entasser comme les mottes à Paris ; puis, l’hiver, on se chauffe de ce bois-là.
  2. Dessécher les fossés d’une ville.

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); 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 "dessécher"?
"dessécher" is spelled D-E-S-S-É-C-H-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \de.se.ʃe\.
What does "dessécher" mean?
As a verb, "dessécher" means: Rendre sec.
How do you pronounce "dessécher"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dessécher" is \de.se.ʃe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dessécher" come from?
"dessécher" 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 "dessécher", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list