agate

\a.ɡat\

/\a.ɡat\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“agate” is uncommon French (frequency #52,463 among 6,727 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,463
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Variété de quartz, agrégation de plusieurs formes de silices qui prend parfaitement le poli et varie pour les couleurs.

Corpus desk

Index FR-agate · agate · French

agate · rank #52,463 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,463
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH affirmez

Nearest frequency peer: affirmez (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « agate »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « agate » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for agate
PropertyValue
Headwordagate
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\a.ɡat\
Letters5
Frequency rank#52,463
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « agate » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.agatetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « affirmez » (#52,462), « agraires » (#52,464), « actually » (#52,461). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « agate » est au #52,463. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

agate is uncommon French at frequency #52,463 among 6,727 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \a.ɡat\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for agate in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is agate, spelled A-G-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Variété de quartz, agrégation de plusieurs formes de silices qui prend parfaitement le poli et varie pour les couleurs.
  2. 2
    Objet fait de cette pierre.
  3. 3
    Instrument dans lequel est enchâssée une agate et qui sert à brunir l’or ou d’autres métaux.
  4. 4
    Bille en verre avec des filaments multicolores à l’intérieur, cornaline. Terme notamment employé par opposition aux billes en terre cuite peintes en usage jusque vers les années 1970.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ses rasoirs, à manche d’agate, coupaient bien, et il arborait un tablier de basaine blanche, immaculé, détail dont il n’aurait eu cure douze ans auparavant.
  2. Ses yeux jaunes et bleus sont comme deux agates ; Il les ferme à demi, parfois, en reniflant, Se renverse, ayant pris son museau dans ses pattes, Avec des airs de tigre étendu sur le flanc.

This word in other languages

agate(English)ágata(Español)Achat(Deutsch)ágata(Português)

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "agate"?
"agate" is spelled A-G-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \a.ɡat\.
What does "agate" mean?
As a noun, "agate" means: Variété de quartz, agrégation de plusieurs formes de silices qui prend parfaitement le poli et varie pour les couleurs.
How do you pronounce "agate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "agate" is \a.ɡat\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "agate" come from?
"agate" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Acton#52,460abram#52,454aslan#52,495Viard#52,419

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list