alambic
\a.lɑ̃.bik\
The verdict
“alambic” is uncommon French (frequency #51,864 among 6,727 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #51,864
- frequency rank, French
- 6,727
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Appareil qui sert à distiller.
Corpus desk
Index FR-alambic · alambic · French
alambic · rank #51,864 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #51,864
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,727
- PHOTO-FINISH ajournée
Nearest frequency peer: ajournée (-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 « alambic »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- ailettes
ailettes
48,140 corpus weight
- ailée
ailée
48,139 corpus weight
- ajournée
ajournée
48,138 corpus weight
- alambic
alambic
48,137 corpus weight
- alcaline
alcaline
48,136 corpus weight
- Algérois
Algérois
48,135 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « alambic » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | alambic |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \a.lɑ̃.bik\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #51,864 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « alambic » en français
Rare enough to double-check
alambic is uncommon French at frequency #51,864 among 6,727 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \a.lɑ̃.bik\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for alambic, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is alambic, spelled A-L-A-M-B-I-C.
Definition
- 1Appareil qui sert à distiller.
- 2Processus qui décante une affaire ou une situation délicate.
- 3Simulie.
- 4Cafetière destinée à préparer le café en le posant sur une source de chaleur ^([1]) ^([2]).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how alambic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lorsqu'on veut faire de l'eau-de-vie avec des marcs de raisin, on se sert d'un simple alambic ordinaire. On chauffe les matières dans une chaudière en cuivre, et les vapeurs qui se produisent passent dans un tube contourné en spirale, ou serpentin ; ce tube, plongé dans un vase plein d'eau froide que l'on renouvelle au fur et à mesure, condense les vapeurs.
La lumière, entrant par les vitres, chauffait la pièce, miroitait sur les landiers de fer, accroupis au fond de l’âtre, sur la tête de l’alambic et sur les bassinoires de cuivre, alignées sur des rayons et qui, soigneusement astiquées pour la circonstance, flamboyaient dans l’ombre comme des soleils.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "alambic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).