perçant
French, adjective/pɛʁ.sɑ̃/
perçant is spelled P-E-R-Ç-A-N-T (7 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written French, the 37,217th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Perçant is a French adjective meaning “piercing, shrill” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a present participle of percer. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui perce, qui pénètre”.
What does perçant mean in English?
adjective
- 1
piercing, shrill
un cri perçant
- 2
sharp (vision, etc.)
verb
- 1
present participle of percer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui perce, qui pénètre. 2. Aigu, vif, pénétrant. 3. Qui a beaucoup d'acuité. 4. Qui montre des traits de satire, de la raillerie.
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 perçant
- perçante feminine
- perçants masculine plural
- perçantes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce perçant?
- /pɛʁ.sɑ̃/
- \pɛʁ.sɑ̃\
- [pɛʁ.sɑ̃]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to perçant
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is perçant in French?
perçant appears about once in every 1 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).