explétif
French, adjective/ɛk.sple.tif/
explétif is spelled E-X-P-L-É-T-I-F (8 letters) and appears about once in every 30 million words in written French, the 175,987th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Explétif is a French adjective meaning “expletive” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui, sans être nécessaire au sens d’une phrase, y introduit cependant une nuance, et souvent la renforce”.
What does explétif mean in English?
adjective
- 1
expletive
- 2
useless, unnecessary, superfluous
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui, sans être nécessaire au sens d’une phrase, y introduit cependant une nuance, et souvent la renforce.
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 explétif
- explétive feminine
- explétifs masculine plural
- explétives feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce explétif?
- /ɛk.sple.tif/
- \ɛks.ple.tif\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to explétif
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is explétif in French?
explétif appears about once in every 30 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).