écheveau

\e.ʃə.vo\

/\e.ʃə.vo\/ noun

The verdict

“écheveau” is uncommon French (frequency #72,846 among 1,805 “É” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,846
frequency rank, French
1,805
“É” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Assemblage de fils de chanvre, de soie, de laine, de coton repliés en plusieurs tours, afin qu’ils ne se mêlent pas.

Corpus desk

Index FR-echeveau · écheveau · French

écheveau · rank #72,846 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,846
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,805
  • PHOTO-FINISH échappatoires

Nearest frequency peer: échappatoires (-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 « écheveau »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for écheveau
PropertyValue
Headwordécheveau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\e.ʃə.vo\
Letters8
Frequency rank#72,846
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « écheveau » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).écheveautombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « échappatoires » (#72,845), « échouèrent » (#72,847), « zeb » (#72,844). Parmi 1,805 lemmes en « É », « écheveau » est au #72,846. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

écheveau is uncommon French at frequency #72,846 among 1,805 “É” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \e.ʃə.vo\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

écheveau doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is écheveau, spelled É-C-H-E-V-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Assemblage de fils de chanvre, de soie, de laine, de coton repliés en plusieurs tours, afin qu’ils ne se mêlent pas.
  2. 2
    Unité de mesure de longueur désuète, autrefois utilisée en filature.
  3. 3
    Ensemble d’éléments confus.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Sur des perches partant du haut des greniers, des écheveaux de coton séchaient à l’air.
  2. Or les écheveaux à numéroter à Tourcoing sont généralement d’un dévidage difficile, contrairement à ce qui se passe à Roubaix.

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); 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 "écheveau"?
"écheveau" is spelled É-C-H-E-V-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \e.ʃə.vo\.
What does "écheveau" mean?
As a noun, "écheveau" means: Assemblage de fils de chanvre, de soie, de laine, de coton repliés en plusieurs tours, afin qu’ils ne se mêlent pas.
How do you pronounce "écheveau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "écheveau" is \e.ʃə.vo\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "écheveau" come from?
"écheveau" 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 "écheveau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list