faience
/ˈfaɪ.əns/
"faience" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“faience” is uncommon English (frequency #90,434 among 18,613 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,434
- frequency rank, English
- 18,613
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A type of tin-glazed earthenware ceramic, used domestically for tableware and in architecture as a decorative material.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | faience |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfaɪ.əns/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #90,434 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “faience” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
faience is uncommon English at frequency #90,434 among 18,613 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈfaɪ.əns/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
faience doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French faïence, named after the city of Faenza, Italy, where it was made in the 16th century. The correct English form is faience, spelled F-A-I-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1A type of tin-glazed earthenware ceramic, used domestically for tableware and in architecture as a decorative material.
- 2Beads or small ornaments made from frit, from the eastern Mediterranean of the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Etymology
From French faïence, named after the city of Faenza, Italy, where it was made in the 16th century.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “faience”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-A-I-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfaɪ.əns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.