burin
\by.ʁɛ̃\
The verdict
“burin” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #37,213 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #37,213
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Outil en forme de ciseau d’acier que l’on pousse à la main et qui sert à graver, à couper les métaux.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | burin |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \by.ʁɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #37,213 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “burin” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for burin is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \by.ʁɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #37,213 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for burin, with forms such as "bburin", "buirn", and "burinn". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "burn", "Burt", "bury", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 burin, spelled B-U-R-I-N.
Definition
- 1Outil en forme de ciseau d’acier que l’on pousse à la main et qui sert à graver, à couper les métaux.
- 2Outil de maçon ou de mécanicien, à lame plate, que l'on frappe avec un maillet ou un marteau.
- 3Gravure effectuée en utilisant la technique du burin.
- 4Instrument à extrémité biseautée tranchante, pour entailler l’os.
- 5Meuble représentant l’outil de sculpteur du même nom dans les armoiries. À rapprocher de ciseau à bois et ciseau de sculpteur.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bburin,buirn,burinn,burrin,ubrin
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of burin - 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.
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 "burin"?
What does "burin" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “burin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is B-U-R-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \by.ʁɛ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “burn” - see the side-by-side comparison. burin vs burn
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.