en-cas
\ɑ̃.ka\
The verdict
“en-cas” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Personne ou chose gardée en réserve pour servir en cas de besoin.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-cas · en-cas · French
en-cas · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | en-cas |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.ka\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en-cas » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en-cas is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɑ̃.ka\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
en-cas has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
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 en-cas, spelled E-N---C-A-S.
Definition
- 1Personne ou chose gardée en réserve pour servir en cas de besoin.
- 2Repas léger préparé en cas de besoin.
- 3Désigne le petit meuble destiné à servir ce type de repas (sens 2).
- 4Goûter ; casse-croûte ; collation.
- 5Espèce de parapluie qui est plus petit que la forme ordinaire des parapluies et un peu plus grand qu’une ombrelle, et qui sert à abriter de la pluie ou du soleil.
- 6Parapluie.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en-cas appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dans sa chambre, comme en-cas pour la nuit, on lui tenait préparée une tasse de consommé froid.
Nous nous ennuyions, nous autres, sylvains aux pieds légers, entraînés à battre le pays sans voiture, et regrettant, devant le poulet froid, nos en-cas de pain frais, d’ail et de fromage.
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.