anathème
\a.na.tɛm\
The verdict
“anathème” is uncommon French (frequency #52,480 among 6,727 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #52,480
- frequency rank, French
- 6,727
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sentence de malédiction qui retranche de la communion de l’Église.
Corpus desk
Index FR-anatheme · anathème · French
anathème · rank #52,480 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #52,480
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,727
- PHOTO-FINISH anarchy
Nearest frequency peer: anarchy (-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 « anathème »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- amplitudes
amplitudes
47,524 corpus weight
- analysez
analysez
47,523 corpus weight
- anarchy
anarchy
47,522 corpus weight
- anathème
anathème
47,521 corpus weight
- angélisme
angélisme
47,520 corpus weight
- antagonismes
antagonismes
47,519 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « anathème » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | anathème |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \a.na.tɛm\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #52,480 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « anathème » en français
Rare enough to double-check
anathème is uncommon French at frequency #52,480 among 6,727 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \a.na.tɛm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for anathème, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is anathème, spelled A-N-A-T-H-È-M-E.
Definition
- 1Sentence de malédiction qui retranche de la communion de l’Église.
- 2Réprobation ; blâme solennel.
- 3Personne qui est un objet d’opprobre, d’exécration.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how anathème appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
L’affaire fut au cœur des discussions du IIIᵉ concile du Latran réuni en 1179, qui condamna par l’anathème les hérétiques et leurs soutiens : le canon 27 contient un appel à prendre les armes et promet déjà aux défenseurs de l’orthodoxie la rémission de tous leurs péchés, un véritable privilège de croisade.
Heureusement, messieurs, nous ne sommes plus au temps où l’on pouvait s’émouvoir des anathèmes perfectionnés que le Syllabus prodigue à ceux qui le méconnaissent, et nous ne ferons pas aux républicains, même les plus timides, l’injure de croire qu’ils puissent se déterminer par des arguments de ce genre.
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
How do you spell "anathème"?
What does "anathème" mean?
How do you pronounce "anathème"?
What language does "anathème" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "anathème", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).