valence
French, noun/va.lɑ̃s/
valence is spelled V-A-L-E-N-C-E (7 letters) and appears 8.5 times per million words in written French, the 7,540th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Valence is a French feminine noun meaning “valence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Nombre maximum de liaisons chimiques qu’un atome peut former avec un autre atome donné”.
What does valence mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininevalence
- 2
femininevalency
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Nombre maximum de liaisons chimiques qu’un atome peut former avec un autre atome donné. 2. Nombre d’actants qu’un terme (le plus souvent un verbe) peut recevoir ou doit recevoir avant d'être saturé, c’est-à-dire fournir un syntagme grammaticalement correct.
noun: 1. Nom à Paris d’une espèce d’orange qui vient de Valence en Espagne.
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 valence
- valences plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce valence?
- /va.lɑ̃s/
- \va.lɑ̃s\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to valence
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is valence in French?
valence appears 8.5 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).