sonde
French, noun
sonde is spelled S-O-N-D-E (5 letters) and appears 8.1 times per million words in written French, the 7,805th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Sonde is a French feminine noun meaning “probe; sound” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of sonder. With an accent, sondé is a different word: “past participle of sonder”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Instrument qui sert à sonder. – Il se dit particulièrement d’un plomb attaché à une corde et dont on use pour…”.
What does sonde mean in English?
noun
- 1
feminineprobe; sound
- 2
feminineany of various devices for testing physical conditions, often for remote or underwater locations
- 3
feminineprobe
- 4
femininesound (measurement to establish the depth of water)
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- 2
second-person singular imperative
verb
- 1
past participle of sonder
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Instrument qui sert à sonder. – Il se dit particulièrement d’un plomb attaché à une corde et dont on use pour connaître la profondeur de la mer, d’une rivière, la nature du fond, etc. 2. Donner un coup de sonde, chercher à connaître les dispositions de quelqu’un. 3. Sorte de tarière qu’on enfonce dans la terre pour reconnaître les différentes couches du terrain, pour forer un puits, etc. 4. Tige creuse qu’on enfonce dans un jambon, dans un melon, dans un fromage, etc., pour en retirer une petite partie et s’assurer de sa qualité.
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 sonde
- sondes plural
- sondée feminine
- sondés masculine plural
- sondées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to sonde
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is sonde in French?
sonde appears 8.1 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).