sss

\sː\

/\sː\/ onomatopoeia

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“sss” is uncommon French (frequency #85,290 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as an onomatopoeia. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,290
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Imite le sifflement d’un serpent.

Corpus desk

Index FR-sss · sss · French

sss · rank #85,290 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,290
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH spécialisant

Nearest frequency peer: spécialisant (-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 « sss »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sss
PropertyValue
Headwordsss
LanguageFrench
Part of speechOnomatopoeia
IPA\sː\
Letters3
Frequency rank#85,290
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « sss » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.ssstombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « spécialisant » (#85,289), « stathouder » (#85,291), « spinetta » (#85,288). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « sss » est au #85,290. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sss is uncommon French at frequency #85,290 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anonomatopoeia, transcribed \sː\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Imite le sifflement d’un serpent.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for sss, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is sss, spelled S-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Imite le sifflement d’un serpent.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Sss ! sss ! C’est moi, Sifflant ! Le serpent !
  2. Sss sss sss, je suis un serpent, …

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 "sss"?
"sss" is spelled S-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is \sː\.
What does "sss" mean?
As an onomatopoeia, "sss" means: Imite le sifflement d’un serpent.
How do you pronounce "sss"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sss" is \sː\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sss" come from?
"sss" 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 "sss", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tah#85,308SCM#85,263tik#85,318RVB#85,240

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list