shaykh

\ʃɛjx\

/\ʃɛjx\/ noun

The verdict

“shaykh” is uncommon French (frequency #83,379 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,379
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Variante de cheik.

Corpus desk

Index FR-shaykh · shaykh · French

shaykh · rank #83,379 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,379
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH shogunat

Nearest frequency peer: shogunat (+2 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 « shaykh »

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 « shaykh » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for shaykh
PropertyValue
Headwordshaykh
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃɛjx\
Letters6
Frequency rank#83,379
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « shaykh » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.shaykhtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « shogunat » (#83,381), « siamoise » (#83,382), « shaming » (#83,375). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « shaykh » est au #83,379. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

shaykh is uncommon French at frequency #83,379 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃɛjx\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Variante de cheik.".

No misspelling variants are generated for shaykh in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored 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 shaykh, spelled S-H-A-Y-K-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Variante de cheik.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. C'est un détail mais la plupart des médias ont diffusé la photo d'un autre shaykh Abd al-Hadi, Abu Anas Abd al-Hadi basé aux USA, qui n'est pas le shaykh algérien de Marseille, Abu Abd al-Halim Abd al-Hadi Doudi, comme on peut le constater sur la seconde photo de @laprovence pic.twitter.com/96oQhQlfIx
  2. Découvrez shaykh Omar Jabbie, un Gambien à la récitation apaisante.

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 "shaykh"?
"shaykh" is spelled S-H-A-Y-K-H. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɛjx\.
What does "shaykh" mean?
As a noun, "shaykh" means: Variante de cheik.
How do you pronounce "shaykh"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shaykh" is \ʃɛjx\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "shaykh" come from?
"shaykh" 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 "shaykh", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list