simple
French, noun/sɛ̃pl/
simple is spelled S-I-M-P-L-E (6 letters) and appears 178 times per million words in written French, the 455th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Simple is a French masculine noun meaning “single” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Plante condimentaire et médicinale telle que la lavande, le romarin, la sauge, le thym, la camomille…”.
What does simple mean in English?
adjective
- 1
single
comptabilité en partie simple
- 2
simple, straightforward, easy
Near-synonym: facile
- 3
simple, plain, unsophisticated
un homme simple
- 4
synthetic; non analytic
futur simple
- 5
simple, uncompounded
phrase simple
- 6
one-way
un aller simple
- 7
mere
un simple soldat
noun
- 1
masculinesingle
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui n’est pas composé. 2. Qui n’est pas compliqué. 3. Qui n’est pas multiple. 4. Qui est modeste.
noun: 1. Plante condimentaire et médicinale telle que la lavande, le romarin, la sauge, le thym, la camomille, l’armoise, l’hysope, etc. 2. Médicament formé d’une seule substance ou qui n’a pas subi de préparation. 3. Personne nature, qui n’est ni subtile, ni savante. 4. Naïf, niais.
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 simple
- simples plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce simple?
- /sɛ̃pl/
- \sɛ̃pl\
- [sɛ̃pl]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to simple
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is simple in French?
simple appears 178 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).