sadness
\ˈsæd.nɪs\
The verdict
“sadness” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tristesse.
Corpus desk
Index FR-sadness · sadness · French
sadness · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sadness |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ˈsæd.nɪs\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « sadness » en français
Rare enough to double-check
sadness is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈsæd.nɪs\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Tristesse.".
sadness has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is sadness, spelled S-A-D-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1Tristesse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how sadness appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The child, in her confidence with Mrs Quilp, had but feebly described the sadness and sorrow of her thoughts, or the heaviness of the cloud which overhung her home, and cast dark shadows on its hearth. (The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens)
Synonyms
Antonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.