sous-ensemble

\su.z‿ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\

/\su.z‿ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\/ noun

The verdict

“sous-ensemble” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Partie d’un ensemble.

Corpus desk

Index FR-sous-ensemble · sous-ensemble · French

sous-ensemble · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 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.

Key facts for sous-ensemble
PropertyValue
Headwordsous-ensemble
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\su.z‿ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « sous-ensemble » en français

sous-ensemblesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sous-ensemble is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \su.z‿ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

sous-ensemble has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, 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 sous-ensemble, spelled S-O-U-S---E-N-S-E-M-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Partie d’un ensemble.
  2. 2
    Langage de programmation hérité d’un autre langage dont il exclut un nombre plus ou moins important de fonctionnalités.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. En mathématiques, un ensemble A est un sous-ensemble ou une partie d’un ensemble B, ou encore B est un sur-ensemble de A, si tout élément du sous-ensemble A est aussi élément du sur-ensemble B.
  2. Un ensemble s est un sous-ensemble de t si tous les éléments de s sont aussi dans t. Par exemple, l’ensemble {1} est un sous-ensemble de {1,2}.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sous-ensemble"?
"sous-ensemble" is spelled S-O-U-S---E-N-S-E-M-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \su.z‿ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\.
What does "sous-ensemble" mean?
As a noun, "sous-ensemble" means: Partie d’un ensemble.
How do you pronounce "sous-ensemble"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sous-ensemble" is \su.z‿ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sous-ensemble" come from?
"sous-ensemble" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list