malheur
French, noun/ma.lœʁ/
malheur is spelled M-A-L-H-E-U-R (7 letters) and appears 17 times per million words in written French, the 4,479th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Malheur is a French masculine noun meaning “mishap, misfortune” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Mauvaise fortune ; mauvaise destinée”.
What does malheur mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinemishap, misfortune
Il y a eu beaucoup de malheurs dans ma vie. Ça craint mais j'en ai beaucoup appris.
- 2
masculinesadness, unhappiness
J’étais tellement déçue qu’il ait plu le jour de notre mariage ! C’était vraiment un malheur.
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Mauvaise fortune ; mauvaise destinée. 2. Accident fâcheux ; désastre. 3. Ce qui est regrettable dans une chose.
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 malheur
- malheurs plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce malheur?
- /ma.lœʁ/
- \ma.lœʁ\
- [ma.lœʁ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to malheur
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is malheur in French?
malheur appears 17 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).