tristesse

\tʁis.tɛs\

/\tʁis.tɛs\/ noun

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

The verdict

“tristesse” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #5,411. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,411
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Affliction, état de dépression morale causé par quelque événement fâcheux.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tristesse · tristesse · French

tristesse · rank #5,411 · 12 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,411
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH trio

Nearest frequency peer: trio (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « tristesse »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « tristesse » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

tristesse vs tristes
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for tristesse
PropertyValue
Headwordtristesse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tʁis.tɛs\
Letters9
Frequency rank#5,411
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « tristesse »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).tristessese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « trio » (#5,410), « voulant » (#5,413), « traits » (#5,408). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tristesse » est au #5,411. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around tristesse (IPA \tʁis.tɛs\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,411 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for tristesse, with forms such as "rtistesse", "tirstesse", and "trisetsse". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "tristes", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is tristesse, spelled T-R-I-S-T-E-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Affliction, état de dépression morale causé par quelque événement fâcheux.
  2. 2
    Mélancolie de tempérament.
  3. 3
    Ambiance où se marque de l’affliction, de la mélancolie.
  4. 4
    Aspect d’une chose qui nous met dans un état d’affliction ou de mélancolie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il est tombé dans une grande tristesse.
  2. La tristesse est finalement l'expression douloureuse du manque.

Synonyms

rage

Antonyms

joie

This word in other languages

sadness(English)tristeza(Español)Traurigkeit(Deutsch)tristeza(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • rtistesse
  • tirstesse
  • trisetsse
  • trisstesse
  • tristese
  • tristeses
  • tristsese
  • tristtesse
  • tritsesse
  • trristesse
  • trsitesse
  • ttristesse

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tristesse - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

rtistesse2tirstesse2trisetsse2trisstesse1tristese1tristeses2tristsese2tristtesse1
Edit distance from "tristesse"

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 "tristesse"?
"tristesse" is spelled T-R-I-S-T-E-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \tʁis.tɛs\.
What does "tristesse" mean?
As a noun, "tristesse" means: Affliction, état de dépression morale causé par quelque événement fâcheux.
What words are commonly confused with "tristesse"?
"tristesse" is commonly confused with "tristes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tristesse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tristesse" is \tʁis.tɛs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tristesse" come from?
"tristesse" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "tristesse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

étudiante#5,417alentours#5,420répondent#5,396primaires#5,389

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

analyser12 variantsrévision12 variantsartillerie12 variantsclément12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list