sous-chien
\su.ʃjɛ̃\
The verdict
“sous-chien” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Compétiteur dont les chances de succès sont minces.
Corpus desk
Index FR-sous-chien · sous-chien · French
sous-chien · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | sous-chien |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \su.ʃjɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « sous-chien » en français
Rare enough to double-check
sous-chien is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \su.ʃjɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for sous-chien in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is sous-chien, spelled S-O-U-S---C-H-I-E-N.
Definition
- 1Compétiteur dont les chances de succès sont minces.
- 2Personne de seconde zone, paria, moins-que-rien.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how sous-chien appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Les Américains, comme les Anglo-Saxons en général, ont toujours été partisans de l’outsider, du sous-chien.
— Vous savez comment ils sont, chez nous, dit Charlie Kuhn. Ils sont toujours pour le plus faible. The underdog, vous connaissez sûrement le mot. — Je le connais, Charlie. Je le connais. Le sous-chien, c’est exactement ce qu’il est.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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.