balsamine

\bal.za.min\

/\bal.za.min\/ noun

The verdict

“balsamine” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. 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) - Genre (Impatiens) de plantes angiospermes sauvages ou ornementales, dont les capsules, quand on en froisse l’extrémité, lancent les graines qu’elles renferment.

Corpus desk

Index FR-balsamine · balsamine · French

balsamine · 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 "B" 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 balsamine
PropertyValue
Headwordbalsamine
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bal.za.min\
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « balsamine » en français

balsaminesiège 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

balsamine is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \bal.za.min\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Genre (Impatiens) de plantes angiospermes sauvages ou ornementales, dont les capsules, quand on en froisse l’extrémité, lancent les graines qu’elles renferment.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for balsamine, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is balsamine, spelled B-A-L-S-A-M-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Genre (Impatiens) de plantes angiospermes sauvages ou ornementales, dont les capsules, quand on en froisse l’extrémité, lancent les graines qu’elles renferment.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Voyons ! entre nous, quand on voit un Minard, une cruche dorée, aller complimenter le roi, se pavaner aux Tuileries ; un Popinot en train de devenir ministre… ; et vous, un homme rompu au travail administratif, qui a vu dix gouvernements, repiquant ses balsamines…
  2. balsamine. Impatience. — Les anciens faisaient entrer cette plante dans la composition d’un certain baume (balsamum) dont elle a emprunté son nom. Les botanistes l’appellent aussi noli me tangere : ne me touchez pas. La capsule de la balsamine, à l’approche de sa maturité, ne peut subir le moindre contact sans lancer aussitôt, et comme avec impatience, le…

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "balsamine"?
"balsamine" is spelled B-A-L-S-A-M-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bal.za.min\.
What does "balsamine" mean?
As a noun, "balsamine" means: Genre (Impatiens) de plantes angiospermes sauvages ou ornementales, dont les capsules, quand on en froisse l’extrémité, lancent les graines qu’elles renferment.
How do you pronounce "balsamine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "balsamine" is \bal.za.min\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "balsamine" come from?
"balsamine" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list