gendarme
/ʒɒnˈdɑːm/
"gendarme" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gendarme” is uncommon English (frequency #70,693 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,693
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A member of the gendarmerie, a military body charged with police duties.
Corpus desk
Index EN-gendarme · gendarme · English
gendarme · rank #70,693 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,693
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH gayness
Nearest frequency peer: gayness (-1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “gendarme”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- gayness
gayness
29,309 corpus weight
- gendarme
gendarme
29,308 corpus weight
- genki
genki
29,307 corpus weight
- geocentric
geocentric
29,306 corpus weight
- Gianluca
Gianluca
29,305 corpus weight
- gigging
gigging
29,304 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “gendarme” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gendarme |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ʒɒnˈdɑːm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #70,693 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “gendarme” in English
Rare enough to double-check
gendarme is uncommon English at frequency #70,693 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ʒɒnˈdɑːm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for gendarme, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French gendarme, from plural gendarmes, a re-spelling of gens d'armes (“people of arms", "armed people”). The correct English form is gendarme, spelled G-E-N-D-A-R-M-E.
Definition
- 1A member of the gendarmerie, a military body charged with police duties.
- 2A policeman.
- 3A rock pinnacle on a mountain ridge.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how gendarme appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The US is tempted to play the role of global gendarme because everyone knows that the UN, as it is, lacks the resources and capacity to fill this role.
The previous attempts foundered when they tried to take this gendarme directly.
Etymology
Borrowed from French gendarme, from plural gendarmes, a re-spelling of gens d'armes (“people of arms", "armed people”).
Synonyms
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gendarme", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).