raison
French, noun/ʁɛ.zɔ̃/
raison is spelled R-A-I-S-O-N (6 letters) and appears 316 times per million words in written French, the 257th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Raison is a French feminine noun meaning “reason (cause)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Faculté intellectuelle par laquelle l’homme connaît, juge et se conduit ; entendement”.
What does raison mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininereason (cause)
- 2
femininereason (mental faculties)
- 3
femininecommon difference (of an arithmetic series)
- 4
femininecommon ratio (of a geometric series)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Faculté intellectuelle par laquelle l’homme connaît, juge et se conduit ; entendement. 2. Ensemble de principes philosophiques de la connaissance ou de l'action 3. Faculté de raisonner, d’établir des démonstrations, d’administrer des preuves. 4. Le bon sens, le bon usage de la raison, la sagesse, la justesse d’esprit.
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 raison
- raisons plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce raison?
- /ʁɛ.zɔ̃/
- /ʁe.zɔ̃/
- \ʁɛ.zɔ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to raison
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is raison in French?
raison appears 316 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).