houache
\waʃ\
The verdict
“houache” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Trace ou sillage laissé par un navire pendant sa marche, et qui en indique la vraie direction.
Corpus desk
Index FR-houache · houache · French
houache · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" 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 | houache |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \waʃ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « houache » en français
Rare enough to double-check
houache is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \waʃ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for houache in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is houache, spelled H-O-U-A-C-H-E.
Definition
- 1Trace ou sillage laissé par un navire pendant sa marche, et qui en indique la vraie direction.
- 2Sur un loch à bateau, désigne le bout de tissu marquant la longueur du navire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how houache appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Des bâtiments sans tirant d’eau, notamment des aéroglisseurs, peuvent se rencontrer dans toutes les eaux… Inversement lorsqu’ils manœuvrent à de relativement faibles vitesses semblables à celle d’un navire conventionnel, ils gouvernent difficilement et produisent une houache considérable… N’ayant pratiquement aucun contact avec la surface au-dessus de laq…
Dans le vocabulaire de la marine à voiles, on désignait ainsi la vitesse d'un navire, liée à l’aspect des remous de son sillage, nommé à l'époque houache ou houaiche.
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.