atavisme
\a.ta.vism\
The verdict
“atavisme” is uncommon French (frequency #86,434 among 424,905 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,434
- frequency rank, French
- 424,905
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Réapparition, chez le descendant, d’un ou plusieurs caractères qui avaient appartenu à un de ses ancêtres, sans se manifester dans les générations intermédiaires.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | atavisme |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \a.ta.vism\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #86,434 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “atavisme” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
atavisme is uncommon French at frequency #86,434 among 424,905 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \a.ta.vism\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for atavisme in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is atavisme, spelled A-T-A-V-I-S-M-E.
Definition
- 1Réapparition, chez le descendant, d’un ou plusieurs caractères qui avaient appartenu à un de ses ancêtres, sans se manifester dans les générations intermédiaires.
- 2Transmission héréditaire de certains traits physiques ou moraux.
Synonyms
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 "atavisme"?
What does "atavisme" mean?
How do you pronounce "atavisme"?
What language does "atavisme" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “atavisme”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-T-A-V-I-S-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \a.ta.vism\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.