shutdown

\ʃət.da.un\

/\ʃət.da.un\/ noun

The verdict

“shutdown” is uncommon French (frequency #65,513 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#65,513
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Arrêt des activités gouvernementales aux États-Unis à la suite d'un désaccord budgétaire avec le Congrès.

Corpus desk

Index FR-shutdown · shutdown · French

shutdown · rank #65,513 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #65,513
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH severe

Nearest frequency peer: severe (-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 « shutdown »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for shutdown
PropertyValue
Headwordshutdown
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃət.da.un\
Letters8
Frequency rank#65,513
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « shutdown » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).shutdowntombe 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: « severe » (#65,512), « sica » (#65,514), « serpillère » (#65,511). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « shutdown » est au #65,513. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

shutdown is uncommon French at frequency #65,513 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃət.da.un\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for shutdown, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is shutdown, spelled S-H-U-T-D-O-W-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Arrêt des activités gouvernementales aux États-Unis à la suite d'un désaccord budgétaire avec le Congrès.
  2. 2
    Chez les personnes autistes, situation où la personne développe une apathie en réaction au stress ou à une surcharge sensorielle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Les Etats-Unis sont entrés mercredi dans leur 36e jour de blocage budgétaire, battant ainsi le record du plus long shutdown de l’histoire du pays. Depuis le 1er octobre, des centaines de milliers de fonctionnaires fédéraux sont au chômage technique tandis que des centaines de milliers d’autres sont forcés de continuer à travailler. Ils ne reçoivent pas de…

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 "shutdown"?
"shutdown" is spelled S-H-U-T-D-O-W-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃət.da.un\.
What does "shutdown" mean?
As a noun, "shutdown" means: Arrêt des activités gouvernementales aux États-Unis à la suite d'un désaccord budgétaire avec le Congrès.
How do you pronounce "shutdown"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "shutdown" is \ʃət.da.un\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "shutdown" come from?
"shutdown" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "shutdown", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list