basson
\ba.sɔ̃\
The verdict
“basson” is uncommon French (frequency #59,101 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,101
- frequency rank, French
- 4,251
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Instrument de musique à vent qui, dans les orchestres, sert à exécuter des parties de basse.
Corpus desk
Index FR-basson · basson · French
basson · rank #59,101 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,101
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,251
- PHOTO-FINISH barral
Nearest frequency peer: barral (-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 « basson »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- banquière
banquière
40,903 corpus weight
- barba
barba
40,902 corpus weight
- barral
barral
40,901 corpus weight
- basson
basson
40,900 corpus weight
- batraciens
batraciens
40,899 corpus weight
- baudet
baudet
40,897 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « basson » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | basson |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ba.sɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #59,101 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « basson » en français
Rare enough to double-check
basson is uncommon French at frequency #59,101 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ba.sɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
basson doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is basson, spelled B-A-S-S-O-N.
Definition
- 1Instrument de musique à vent qui, dans les orchestres, sert à exécuter des parties de basse.
- 2Musicien qui joue de cet instrument, bassoniste.
- 3Bruit qui rappelle le son de cet instrument de musique.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how basson appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Des chansons à boire de l’époque baroque ont été interprétées par le jeune ensemble Le Mystère, invité du Petit festival 2022 et composé de Marie Poupardin, dessus ; Quentin Fondecave, basson baroque et flûtes à bec ; Lætitia Schneider, théorbe et guitare ; Julie Dutoit, viole de gambe.
Le basson qui, dans la famille des hautbois, tient le même rang que le violoncelle dans celle du violon, est un instrument indispensable dans la composition d’un orchestre, pour lier les différentes parties de l’harmonie.
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "basson", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).