écoute
French, noun
écoute is spelled É-C-O-U-T-E (6 letters) and appears 76 times per million words in written French, the 1,112th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Écoute is a French feminine noun meaning “the act of listening” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of écouter. With an accent, écouté is a different word: “past participle of écouter”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet”.
What does écoute mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininethe act of listening
- 2
feminine(always in plural) listening in, especially short for écoutes téléphoniques (phone hacking)
noun
- 1
femininesheet (line to control a sail)
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- 2
second-person singular imperative
verb
- 1
past participle of écouter
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. 2. Lieu où l’on écoute sans être vu. 3. Oreilles du sanglier. 4. Moyen de renseignement qui complète l’observation de l’activité de l’ennemi.
noun: 1. Cordage attaché à un coin d’une voile, pour servir à la déployer, à la tendre, à la serrer ou à l’orienter.
adjective: 1. Dans un couvent, qualifie une religieuse qui accompagne une autre religieuse au parloir.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of écoute
- écoutes plural
- écoutée feminine
- écoutés masculine plural
- écoutées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to écoute
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is écoute in French?
écoute appears 76 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).