ancêtre

\ɑ̃.sɛtʁ\

/\ɑ̃.sɛtʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“ancêtre” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #13,311. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,311
frequency rank, French
6,727
“A” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Celui ou celle de qui l’on descend par son père ou sa mère.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ancetre · ancêtre · French

ancêtre · rank #13,311 · 11 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,311
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,727
  • PHOTO-FINISH analyste

Nearest frequency peer: analyste (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « ancêtre »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « ancêtre » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ancêtre vs ancre
71% similar
ancêtre vs antre
71% similar
ancêtre vs Annette
43% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ancêtre
PropertyValue
Headwordancêtre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɑ̃.sɛtʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#13,311
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « ancêtre »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ancêtrese place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « analyste » (#13,310), « anomalies » (#13,312), « amènent » (#13,309). Parmi 6,727 lemmes en « A », « ancêtre » est au #13,311. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around ancêtre (IPA \ɑ̃.sɛtʁ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,311 among 6,727 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for ancêtre, with forms such as "acnêtre", "anccêtre", and "ancetre". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "ancre", "antre", "Annette", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is ancêtre, spelled A-N-C-Ê-T-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Celui ou celle de qui l’on descend par son père ou sa mère.
  2. 2
    Ceux qui sont au-dessus du degré de grand-parent.
  3. 3
    Tous ceux qui nous ont devancés, encore que nous ne soyons pas de leur ethnie.
  4. 4
    Personne âgée, du troisième âge.
  5. 5
    Ce qui a précédé quelque chose d’autre dans l’histoire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le culte de l’ancêtre doit beaucoup à l’intérêt commercial. En se proclamant descendants de l’inventrice du camembert, les petits-enfants de Marie Harel s’attribuaient un label d’authenticité et de tradition.
  2. Il faut toujours bien prendre garde que le Juif du Moyen Âge, devenu si résigné, ressemble beaucoup plus au chrétien qu’à ses ancêtres.

Synonyms

aïeulascendantlignée

Antonyms

descendance

This word in other languages

ancestor(English)antepasado(Español)Ahn(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acnêtre
  • anccêtre
  • ancetre
  • anctêre
  • ancêrte
  • ancêter
  • ancêtrre
  • ancêttre
  • anncêtre
  • anêctre
  • nacêtre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ancêtre - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

acnêtre2anccêtre1ancetre1anctêre2ancêrte2ancêter2ancêtrre1ancêttre1
Edit distance from "ancêtre"

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 "ancêtre"?
"ancêtre" is spelled A-N-C-Ê-T-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.sɛtʁ\.
What does "ancêtre" mean?
As a noun, "ancêtre" means: Celui ou celle de qui l’on descend par son père ou sa mère.
What words are commonly confused with "ancêtre"?
"ancêtre" is commonly confused with "ancre", "antre", "Annette". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ancêtre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ancêtre" is \ɑ̃.sɛtʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ancêtre" come from?
"ancêtre" 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 "ancêtre", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

amènent#13,309aligner#13,308ajuster#13,307votants#13,295

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

approuver11 variantsappréciée11 variantsérotique11 variantsarrêtons11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list