intendant

noun

"intendant" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“intendant” is uncommon English (frequency #73,300 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,300
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The administrator of an opera house or theater.

Corpus desk

Index EN-intendant · intendant · English

intendant · rank #73,300 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,300
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH interactively

Nearest frequency peer: interactively (+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 “intendant”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “intendant” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for intendant
PropertyValue
Headwordintendant
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#73,300
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “intendant” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).intendantfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “interactively” (#73,301), “infanta” (#73,295), “IPV” (#73,305). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “intendant” is #73,300. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

intendant is uncommon English at frequency #73,300 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for intendant in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Originally and usually from French intendant, but translating Spanish or Chinese equivalents in some contexts. The correct English form is intendant, spelled I-N-T-E-N-D-A-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    The administrator of an opera house or theater.
  2. 2
    One who has the charge, direction, or management of some public business; a superintendent.
  3. 3
    A governor in various specific contexts, including certain South American countries, and historically in the kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, and France, and in imperial China.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how intendant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. an intendant of finance
  2. By-and-by, she wandered away to an unnecessary revelation of her master's whereabouts: gone to help in the search for his landlord, the Sieur de Poissy, who lived at the château just above, and who had not returned from his chase the day before; so the intendant imagined he might have met with some accident, and had summoned the neighbours to beat the for…

Etymology

Originally and usually from French intendant, but translating Spanish or Chinese equivalents in some contexts.

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "intendant"?
"intendant" is spelled I-N-T-E-N-D-A-N-T.
What does "intendant" mean?
As a noun, "intendant" means: The administrator of an opera house or theater.
What is the origin of the word "intendant"?
Originally and usually from French intendant, but translating Spanish or Chinese equivalents in some contexts. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "intendant", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list