nuance
French, noun
nuance is spelled N-U-A-N-C-E (6 letters) and appears 6.0 times per million words in written French, the 9,803rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Nuance is a French feminine noun meaning “nuance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, nuancé is a different word: “nuanced”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Chacun des degrés différents par lesquels peut passer une couleur, en conservant le nom qui la distingue des…”.
What does nuance mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininenuance:
- 2
femininenuance:
- 3
femininegradation of colors
- 4
femininedynamics
adjective
- 1
nuanced
verb
- 1
past participle of nuancer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Chacun des degrés différents par lesquels peut passer une couleur, en conservant le nom qui la distingue des autres. 2. Caractéristique subtile changeant légèrement la nature d’une chose. 3. Façon d’exprimer des idées qui ne tombe pas dans le simplisme, le tout ou rien, qui refuse le manichéisme. 4. Inflexions d’une musique allant dans le sens de la force ou de la douceur.
adjective: 1. Fait de nuances.
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 nuance
- nuances plural
- nuancée feminine
- nuancés masculine plural
- nuancées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to nuance
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is nuance in French?
nuance appears 6.0 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).