reticule
/ˈɹɛtɪkjuːl/
"reticule" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“reticule” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A reticle; a grid in the eyepiece of an instrument.
Corpus desk
Index EN-reticule · reticule · English
reticule · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "R" 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 | reticule |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹɛtɪkjuːl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “reticule” in English
Rare enough to double-check
reticule is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈɹɛtɪkjuːl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for reticule, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French réticule, from Latin rēticulum, diminutive of rēte (“net”). Doublet of reticle, reticulum, and Reticulum. The correct English form is reticule, spelled R-E-T-I-C-U-L-E.
Definition
- 1A reticle; a grid in the eyepiece of an instrument.
- 2A small women's bag made of a woven net-like material.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how reticule appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[H]er hair had been used to create the reticule in the famous Norden bombsight—a top-secret WWII targeting device.
When reading the note, and arriving at an assurance of Helen's absence, Lady Anne had indignantly crushed it in her hand, and thrust it into her reticule, but, on her return home, whilst Fanchette was industriously employed upon her hair with the invaluable liquid dye, she drew out the rumpled paper, and read the concluding paragraph.
Etymology
From French réticule, from Latin rēticulum, diminutive of rēte (“net”). Doublet of reticle, reticulum, and Reticulum.
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.