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piste

French, noun

piste is spelled P-I-S-T-E (5 letters) and appears 43 times per million words in written French, the 1,953rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Piste is a French feminine noun meaning “track or trail (left by an animal or person)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of pister. With an accent, pisté is a different word: “past participle of pister”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Trace qu’a laissée un animal ou un homme sur le sol où il a marché”.

What does piste mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    femininetrack or trail (left by an animal or person)

  2. 2

    femininetrack (road or other similar beaten path)

    Une piste automobile dans le désert.

  3. 3

    femininelead, hint (e.g. in a police investigation)

    La police est sur la piste d’un complot.

  4. 4

    femininerunway

    piste d’atterrissage

  5. 5

    femininetrack (on a recording)

  6. 6

    feminineracecourse

  7. 7

    femininering in a circus

  8. 8

    femininefloor (various activities such as dancing, skating, or fencing)

    piste de danse

verb

  1. 1

    first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive

  2. 2

    second-person singular imperative

verb

as pisté
  1. 1

    past participle of pister

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Trace qu’a laissée un animal ou un homme sur le sol où il a marché. 2. Trace laissée par un véhicule. 3. Chemin rudimentaire, sommairement aménagé. 4. Ce qui aide à découvrir.

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 piste

  • pistes plural
  • pistée feminine
  • pistés masculine plural
  • pistées feminine plural

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to piste

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is piste in French?

piste appears 43 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).

What to look up after piste