"sou" meaning in French

See sou in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /su/ Audio: Fr-sou.ogg Forms: sous [plural], sol [alternative]
Rhymes: -u Etymology: Inherited from Old French, inherited from Late Latin soldus, from Latin solidus. Doublet of solide. See also the form sol, which kept the historical spelling from Old French, even if it came to be pronounced like sou. Etymology templates: {{root|fr|ine-pro|*solh₂-}}, {{glossary|Inherited}} Inherited, {{inh|fr|fro|-|||g=|g2=|g3=|id=|lit=|nocat=|pos=|sc=|sort=|tr=|ts=}} Old French, {{inh+|fr|fro|-}} Inherited from Old French, {{inh|fr|LL.|soldus}} Late Latin soldus, {{inh|fr|la|solidus}} Latin solidus, {{doublet|fr|solide}} Doublet of solide Head templates: {{fr-noun|m}} sou m (plural sous)
  1. (historical, numismatics) sou (old French coin) Tags: historical, masculine
    Sense id: en-sou-fr-noun-vM-cqq-i Categories (other): Currency, French entries with incorrect language header, Coins Disambiguation of French entries with incorrect language header: 94 2 5 Disambiguation of Coins: 89 5 5 Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, numismatics
  2. (by extension, chiefly in the plural, colloquial) money; cash Tags: broadly, colloquial, in-plural, masculine
    Sense id: en-sou-fr-noun-cWFR6vo2
  3. (Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial) cent (one hundredth of a dollar) Tags: Louisiana, Quebec, colloquial, masculine
    Sense id: en-sou-fr-noun-7RCrgSmX Categories (other): Louisiana French, Quebec French
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: cinq sous commencent la piastre, machine à sous, ne pas avoir un sou, pas pour deux sous, pas pour un sou, près de ses sous, propre comme un sou neuf, sans le sou, trente sous Related terms: sol, solide, soudard, souder, chelin, livre

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "cinq sous commencent la piastre"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "machine à sous"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "ne pas avoir un sou"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pas pour deux sous"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pas pour un sou"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "près de ses sous"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "propre comme un sou neuf"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "sans le sou"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "trente sous"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "en",
            "2": "sou",
            "bor": "1"
          },
          "expansion": "→ English: sou",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "→ English: sou"
    },
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "lou",
            "2": "sou"
          },
          "expansion": "Louisiana Creole: sou",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Louisiana Creole: sou"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*solh₂-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Inherited"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "-",
        "4": "",
        "5": "",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "id": "",
        "lit": "",
        "nocat": "",
        "pos": "",
        "sc": "",
        "sort": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Old French",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited from Old French",
      "name": "inh+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "LL.",
        "3": "soldus"
      },
      "expansion": "Late Latin soldus",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "solidus"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin solidus",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "solide"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of solide",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Inherited from Old French, inherited from Late Latin soldus, from Latin solidus. Doublet of solide. See also the form sol, which kept the historical spelling from Old French, even if it came to be pronounced like sou.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sous",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sol",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "m"
      },
      "expansion": "sou m (plural sous)",
      "name": "fr-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "sol"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "solide"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "soudard"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "souder"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "chelin"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "livre"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "fr",
          "name": "Currency",
          "orig": "fr:Currency",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 2 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "French entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 5 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "fr",
          "name": "Coins",
          "orig": "fr:Coins",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "sou (old French coin)"
      ],
      "id": "en-sou-fr-noun-vM-cqq-i",
      "links": [
        [
          "numismatics",
          "numismatics"
        ],
        [
          "sou",
          "sou#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical, numismatics) sou (old French coin)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "numismatics"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              21,
              25
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              26
            ]
          ],
          "english": "Can you lend me some cash?",
          "text": "Tu peux me prêter des sous ?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "money; cash"
      ],
      "id": "en-sou-fr-noun-cWFR6vo2",
      "links": [
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ],
        [
          "cash",
          "cash"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, chiefly in the plural, colloquial) money; cash"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "colloquial",
        "in-plural",
        "masculine"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Louisiana French",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Quebec French",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              39,
              44
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "english": "That'll be six dollars and twenty-five cents, please.",
          "text": "Ça va être six piastres et vingt-cinq sous, s’il te plaît.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "cent (one hundredth of a dollar)"
      ],
      "id": "en-sou-fr-noun-7RCrgSmX",
      "links": [
        [
          "cent",
          "cent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial) cent (one hundredth of a dollar)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Louisiana",
        "Quebec",
        "colloquial",
        "masculine"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/su/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "Fr-sou.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8e/Fr-sou.ogg/Fr-sou.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Fr-sou.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-u"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "sous"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "saoul"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "saouls"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "sol (one pronunciation)"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "soul"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "soûl"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "souls"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "soûls"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sou"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "French 1-syllable words",
    "French countable nouns",
    "French doublets",
    "French entries with incorrect language header",
    "French lemmas",
    "French masculine nouns",
    "French nouns",
    "French terms derived from Late Latin",
    "French terms derived from Latin",
    "French terms derived from Old French",
    "French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "French terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *solh₂-",
    "French terms inherited from Late Latin",
    "French terms inherited from Latin",
    "French terms inherited from Old French",
    "French terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "French terms with homophones",
    "Pages with 25 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:French/u",
    "Rhymes:French/u/1 syllable",
    "fr:Coins"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "cinq sous commencent la piastre"
    },
    {
      "word": "machine à sous"
    },
    {
      "word": "ne pas avoir un sou"
    },
    {
      "word": "pas pour deux sous"
    },
    {
      "word": "pas pour un sou"
    },
    {
      "word": "près de ses sous"
    },
    {
      "word": "propre comme un sou neuf"
    },
    {
      "word": "sans le sou"
    },
    {
      "word": "trente sous"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "en",
            "2": "sou",
            "bor": "1"
          },
          "expansion": "→ English: sou",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "→ English: sou"
    },
    {
      "depth": 1,
      "templates": [
        {
          "args": {
            "1": "lou",
            "2": "sou"
          },
          "expansion": "Louisiana Creole: sou",
          "name": "desc"
        }
      ],
      "text": "Louisiana Creole: sou"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*solh₂-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "Inherited"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "-",
        "4": "",
        "5": "",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": "",
        "id": "",
        "lit": "",
        "nocat": "",
        "pos": "",
        "sc": "",
        "sort": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Old French",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Inherited from Old French",
      "name": "inh+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "LL.",
        "3": "soldus"
      },
      "expansion": "Late Latin soldus",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "solidus"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin solidus",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "solide"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of solide",
      "name": "doublet"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Inherited from Old French, inherited from Late Latin soldus, from Latin solidus. Doublet of solide. See also the form sol, which kept the historical spelling from Old French, even if it came to be pronounced like sou.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sous",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sol",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "m"
      },
      "expansion": "sou m (plural sous)",
      "name": "fr-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "French",
  "lang_code": "fr",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "sol"
    },
    {
      "word": "solide"
    },
    {
      "word": "soudard"
    },
    {
      "word": "souder"
    },
    {
      "word": "chelin"
    },
    {
      "word": "livre"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "French terms with historical senses",
        "fr:Currency"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "sou (old French coin)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "numismatics",
          "numismatics"
        ],
        [
          "sou",
          "sou#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical, numismatics) sou (old French coin)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "numismatics"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "French colloquialisms",
        "French terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              21,
              25
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              22,
              26
            ]
          ],
          "english": "Can you lend me some cash?",
          "text": "Tu peux me prêter des sous ?",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "money; cash"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ],
        [
          "cash",
          "cash"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, chiefly in the plural, colloquial) money; cash"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "colloquial",
        "in-plural",
        "masculine"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "French colloquialisms",
        "French terms with usage examples",
        "Louisiana French",
        "Quebec French"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_english_offsets": [
            [
              39,
              44
            ]
          ],
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "english": "That'll be six dollars and twenty-five cents, please.",
          "text": "Ça va être six piastres et vingt-cinq sous, s’il te plaît.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "cent (one hundredth of a dollar)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cent",
          "cent"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial) cent (one hundredth of a dollar)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Louisiana",
        "Quebec",
        "colloquial",
        "masculine"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/su/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "Fr-sou.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/8e/Fr-sou.ogg/Fr-sou.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Fr-sou.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-u"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "sous"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "saoul"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "saouls"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "sol (one pronunciation)"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "soul"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "soûl"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "souls"
    },
    {
      "homophone": "soûls"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sou"
}

Download raw JSONL data for sou meaning in French (4.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable French dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-01 using wiktextract (5ee713e and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.