bantam

\bɑ̃.tam\

/\bɑ̃.tam\/ noun

The verdict

“bantam” is uncommon French (frequency #56,438 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,438
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Race de poules naines, originaires de Chine, basses sur pattes, à petite crête simple, et à oreillons rouges.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bantam · bantam · French

bantam · rank #56,438 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,438
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH balancement

Nearest frequency peer: balancement (-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 « bantam »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « bantam » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bantam
PropertyValue
Headwordbantam
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bɑ̃.tam\
Letters6
Frequency rank#56,438
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « bantam » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).bantamtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « balancement » (#56,437), « baptistère » (#56,439), « Balagne » (#56,436). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bantam » est au #56,438. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bantam is uncommon French at frequency #56,438 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \bɑ̃.tam\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for bantam, 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 tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is bantam, spelled B-A-N-T-A-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Race de poules naines, originaires de Chine, basses sur pattes, à petite crête simple, et à oreillons rouges.
  2. 2
    Une des catégories d’âge de hockey mineur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Nous avons les poules naines, très agréables d’aspect ; la race bantam, que l’on attribue au goût et aux soins des Japonais,…
  2. La seule [volaille] à laquelle on puisse soupçonner quelque chose comme une voix, c’est un vieux bantam du boulanger d’à côté, encore est-il devenu enroué pour avoir été trop mal nourri et mal logé dans sa dernière place.

Synonyms

poule bantampékinbantam de Pékin

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 "bantam"?
"bantam" is spelled B-A-N-T-A-M. The IPA pronunciation is \bɑ̃.tam\.
What does "bantam" mean?
As a noun, "bantam" means: Race de poules naines, originaires de Chine, basses sur pattes, à petite crête simple, et à oreillons rouges.
How do you pronounce "bantam"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bantam" is \bɑ̃.tam\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bantam" come from?
"bantam" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bantam", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list