tristesse
French, noun/tʁis.tɛs/
tristesse is spelled T-R-I-S-T-E-S-S-E (9 letters) and appears 13 times per million words in written French, the 5,331st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Tristesse is a French feminine noun meaning “sadness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Affliction, état de dépression morale causé par quelque événement fâcheux”.
What does tristesse mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininesadness
la tristesse durera
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Affliction, état de dépression morale causé par quelque événement fâcheux. 2. Mélancolie de tempérament. 3. Ambiance où se marque de l’affliction, de la mélancolie. 4. Aspect d’une chose qui nous met dans un état d’affliction ou de mélancolie.
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 tristesse
- tristesses plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce tristesse?
- /tʁis.tɛs/
- \tʁis.tɛs\
- [la tʁis.tɛs]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to tristesse
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is tristesse in French?
tristesse appears 13 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).