allophone

\a.lɔ.fɔn\

/\a.lɔ.fɔn\/ adj

The verdict

“allophone” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui parle une langue étrangère.

Corpus desk

Index FR-allophone · allophone · French

allophone · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "A" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for allophone
PropertyValue
Headwordallophone
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\a.lɔ.fɔn\
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « allophone » en français

allophonesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

allophone is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \a.lɔ.fɔn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui parle une langue étrangère.".

No misspelling variants are generated for allophone in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is allophone, spelled A-L-L-O-P-H-O-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui parle une langue étrangère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cette loi est jugée trop radicale par les communautés anglophone et allophone du Québec, parce qu'elle restreint leur liberté de choix de longue date, mais une majorité croissante de Québécois francophones jugent qu'elle ne va pas assez loin, que la Loi 22 contient trop d'échappatoires qui permettent aux parents allophones d'envoyer leurs enfants dans des…
  2. Mais une telle allophonie existe bien avec les EANA (élèves allophones nouvellement arrivés) étrangers, et aussi, dans certains territoires ultramarins, avec des élèves de nationalité française.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "allophone"?
"allophone" is spelled A-L-L-O-P-H-O-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \a.lɔ.fɔn\.
What does "allophone" mean?
As an adjective, "allophone" means: Qui parle une langue étrangère.
How do you pronounce "allophone"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "allophone" is \a.lɔ.fɔn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "allophone" come from?
"allophone" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list