méchant

\me.ʃɑ̃\

/\me.ʃɑ̃\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“méchant” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,476. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,476
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mauvais, contraire de bon.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mechant · méchant · French

méchant · rank #3,476 · 12 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,476
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH mystère

Nearest frequency peer: mystère (-1 rank slots)

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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “méchant”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “méchant” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

méchant vs menant
57% similar
méchant vs mêlant
57% similar
méchant vs Meghan
43% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for méchant
PropertyValue
Headwordméchant
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\me.ʃɑ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,476
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “méchant” se place dans la fréquence du français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).méchantse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « mystère » (#3,475), « nationales » (#3,477), « mit » (#3,474). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around méchant (IPA \me.ʃɑ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,476 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 14 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for méchant, with forms such as "mcéhant", "mechant", and "mméchant". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "menant", "mêlant", "Meghan", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is méchant, spelled M-É-C-H-A-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mauvais, contraire de bon.
  2. 2
    Sentir méchant : Sentir mauvais.
  3. 3
    Qui ne vaut rien dans son genre, qui est maigre ou insuffisant, de mauvaise qualité ou dans un état déplorable, minable, miteux.
  4. 4
    Sans valeur, incompétent.
  5. 5
    Sans valeur, incompétent.
  6. 6
    Sans valeur, incompétent.
  7. 7
    Sans valeur, incompétent.
  8. 8
    Bon, extraordinaire, fameux, remarquable, énorme ou impressionnant.
  9. 9
    Malfaisant, antonyme : gentil.
  10. 10
    Malfaisant, antonyme : gentil.
  11. 11
    Malfaisant, antonyme : gentil.
  12. 12
    Malfaisant, antonyme : gentil.
  13. 13
    Grave.
  14. 14
    (par antiphrase)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how méchant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. De méchante humeur, de mauvaise humeur.
  2. Après le souper elle joua au quinze, elle perdit de mauvaise grâce, paya de plus mauvaise grâce encore, & se coucha de fort méchante humeur.

Antonyms

bon

This word in other languages

bad(English)malo(Español)schlecht(Deutsch)mau(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mcéhant
  • mechant
  • mméchant
  • mécahnt
  • mécchant
  • méchannt
  • méchantt
  • méchatn
  • méchhant
  • méchnat
  • méhcant
  • émchant

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of méchant - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

mcéhant2mechant1mméchant1mécahnt2mécchant1méchannt1méchantt1méchatn2
Edit distance from "méchant"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "méchant"?
"méchant" is spelled M-É-C-H-A-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \me.ʃɑ̃\.
What does "méchant" mean?
As an adjective, "méchant" means: Mauvais, contraire de bon.
What words are commonly confused with "méchant"?
"méchant" is commonly confused with "menant", "mêlant", "Meghan". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "méchant"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "méchant" is \me.ʃɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "méchant" come from?
"méchant" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "méchant", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mystère#3,475majeure#3,471limiter#3,468paysage#3,484

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

originale12 variantsProvence12 variantsreconnaît12 variantscapables12 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "méchant". Here's where to go from here.

  • "méchant" maps to 13 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "menant". View pair
  • 12 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #3,476 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "M" letter cohort. M–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list