ni chair ni poisson

\ni ʃɛʁ ni pwa.sɔ̃\

/\ni ʃɛʁ ni pwa.sɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“ni chair ni poisson” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
19
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De nature ou d’aspect indéfinissable.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ni-chair-ni-poisson · ni chair ni poisson · French

ni chair ni poisson · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 19 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "N" 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.

Key facts for ni chair ni poisson
PropertyValue
Headwordni chair ni poisson
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ni ʃɛʁ ni pwa.sɔ̃\
Letters19
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ni chair ni poisson » en français

ni chair ni poissonreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ni chair ni poisson is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ni ʃɛʁ ni pwa.sɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "De nature ou d’aspect indéfinissable.".

No misspelling variants are generated for ni chair ni poisson in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is ni chair ni poisson, spelled N-I- -C-H-A-I-R- -N-I- -P-O-I-S-S-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    De nature ou d’aspect indéfinissable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Certains individus ne sont, comme on dit, ni chair ni poisson.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ni chair ni poisson"?
"ni chair ni poisson" is spelled N-I- -C-H-A-I-R- -N-I- -P-O-I-S-S-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ni ʃɛʁ ni pwa.sɔ̃\.
What does "ni chair ni poisson" mean?
As a noun, "ni chair ni poisson" means: De nature ou d’aspect indéfinissable.
How do you pronounce "ni chair ni poisson"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ni chair ni poisson" is \ni ʃɛʁ ni pwa.sɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ni chair ni poisson" come from?
"ni chair ni poisson" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list