French Conversation · Level 44
75 words
French word
malchance
Pronunciation
IPA/malʃɑ̃s/
Meaning
- feminine nounbad luck
Example
Quelle malchance !
What bad luck!
More examples
Il a eu la malchance de rater le train.
He was unlucky enough to miss the train.
Core concept
A run of unlucky turns, with one setback seeming to invite the next.
Common phrases
avoir la malchance de
to be unlucky enough to ___
Quelle malchance
What bad luck
Similar words
malheur: A grave misfortune or disastrous event.
mésaventure: A small accident or unexpected difficulty.
poisse: Exceptionally bad luck, in casual speech.
déveine: A brief period of bad luck leading to trouble, informally.
Definition in French
Série d'événements défavorables attribués au hasard.
Word origin
Malchance combines French mal-, meaning bad, with chance, borrowed from Old French chance and linked to Latin cadentia, from cadere, to fall.
Usage tips
- Malchance is feminine, so the fixed phrase is 'Quelle malchance !'; malheur is more often used for serious misfortune.
Other meanings
- misfortunenoun
Opposites
- chancegood lucknoun
Related words
- malchanceuxunluckyadjective
- malchanceusementunluckilyadverb