malheureux
French, adjective/ma.lœ.ʁø/
malheureux is spelled M-A-L-H-E-U-R-E-U-X (10 letters) and appears 15 times per million words in written French, the 4,842nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Malheureux is a French adjective meaning “unhappy, miserable; poor” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui porte malheur ; qui annonce ou qui cause du malheur”.
What does malheureux mean in English?
adjective
- 1
unhappy, miserable; poor
- 2
insignificant, trifling
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui porte malheur ; qui annonce ou qui cause du malheur. 2. Qui est funeste, désastreux. 3. Qui n’est pas heureux ; qui est frappé par le malheur. 4. Qui est misérable, digne de pitié.
noun: 1. Celui qui est vil et méprisable. 2. Celui qui souffre de maladie ou d'accident. 3. Pauvre. 4. Se dit en interjection pour désapprouver une idée ou un geste commis ou annoncé par son interlocuteur.
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 malheureux
- malheureuse feminine
- malheureuses feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce malheureux?
- /ma.lœ.ʁø/
- \ma.lœ.ʁø\
- [ma.lœ.ʁø]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to malheureux
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is malheureux in French?
malheureux appears 15 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).