château
UK/ˈʃæ.təʊ//ʃæˈtoʊ/
château noun: a French castle, fortress, manor house, or large country house.
Noun
château (plural châteaus or châteaux)
- A French castle, fortress, manor house, or large country house.
- Any stately residence imitating a distinctively French castle.
- Luisa has reread Sixsmith’s letters a dozen or so times or more in the last day and a half. They disturb her. A university friend of Sixsmith’s, Robert Frobisher, wrote the series in the summer of 1931 during a prolonged stay at a château in Belgium.2004, David Mitchell, “Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery”, in Cloud Atlas, →ISBN, page 120
- An estate where wine is produced and often bottled, especially in Bordeaux.
Forms of château
| plural | châteaus |
|---|---|
| plural | châteaux |
| alternative form | chateau |
Origin of château
Originated 1730–40. Unadapted borrowing from French château, from Old French chastel, from Latin castellum. Doublet of cashel, castell, castellum, and castle.
Words formed from château
Phrases with château
Words that rhyme with château
Questions about château
- What does château mean?
- Château means a French castle, fortress, manor house, or large country house.
- What part of speech is château?
- Château is a noun.
- How do you pronounce château?
- Château is pronounced /ˈʃæ.təʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of château?
- The plural of château is châteaus.
Words near château in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: château (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chateau.ogg.
Cite this entry: “château.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ch%C3%A2teau. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.