rosse

\ʁɔs\

/\ʁɔs\/ noun

The verdict

“rosse” is uncommon French (frequency #67,081 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,081
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Cheval sans force, sans vigueur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-rosse · rosse · French

rosse · rank #67,081 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,081
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH rouennaise

Nearest frequency peer: rouennaise (+1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « rosse »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « rosse » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rosse
PropertyValue
Headwordrosse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁɔs\
Letters5
Frequency rank#67,081
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « rosse » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).rossetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « rouennaise » (#67,082), « rompe » (#67,079), « rugueuses » (#67,083). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « rosse » est au #67,081. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rosse is uncommon French at frequency #67,081 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʁɔs\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for rosse, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is rosse, spelled R-O-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cheval sans force, sans vigueur.
  2. 2
    Personne maligne et dure, méchante.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. C’était un vieux routier qui savait le train des affaires et qui les menait de routine, comme une rosse aveugle tourne la meule d’une brasserie.
  2. Combien de rosses, vendues à l’âge de 5 ans pour la modique somme de 300 francs, auraient valu, si on les avait élevées d’après les véritables principes zootechniques, 800, 1000, et 1200 francs.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "rosse"?
"rosse" is spelled R-O-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁɔs\.
What does "rosse" mean?
As a noun, "rosse" means: Cheval sans force, sans vigueur.
How do you pronounce "rosse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rosse" is \ʁɔs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rosse" come from?
"rosse" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rosse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list