cordon sanitaire
/ˌkɔːdɒn sanɪˈtɛː/
"cordon-sanitaire" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cordon sanitaire” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A barrier (physical or administrative) to prevent the spread of disease.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cordon-sanitaire · cordon sanitaire · English
cordon sanitaire · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cordon sanitaire |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌkɔːdɒn sanɪˈtɛː/ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “cordon sanitaire” in English
Rare enough to double-check
cordon sanitaire is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌkɔːdɒn sanɪˈtɛː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for cordon sanitaire in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from French cordon sanitaire. The correct English form is cordon sanitaire, spelled C-O-R-D-O-N- -S-A-N-I-T-A-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1A barrier (physical or administrative) to prevent the spread of disease.
- 2Any barrier to the spread of anything deemed undesirable.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cordon sanitaire appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In accordance with their recommendation, the French Ministry drew a cordon sanitaire round the Spanish frontier. The plague gradually died away with the colder weather of the winter; but the French Ministry did not withdraw the troops who composed the cordon sanitaire.
Bubonic plague had been in relative abeyance since the 1660s, and its explosion into Marseille and Provence in 1720 confirmed the ability of government, through quarantines and cordons sanitaires, to hem the disease in and prevent its diffusion across the country.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from French cordon sanitaire.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.