calorie

\ka.lɔ.ʁi\

/\ka.lɔ.ʁi\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“calorie” is an uncommon French word, ranked #59,133 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#59,133
frequency rank, French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Unité de mesure historiquement définie comme la quantité de chaleur nécessaire pour élever de 1 °C la température de 1 gramme d’eau. Environ 4,2 joules. Il y a plusieurs définitions précises. Petit...

Key facts for calorie
PropertyValue
Headwordcalorie
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.lɔ.ʁi\
Letters7
Frequency rank#59,133
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “calorie” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). calorie lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for calorie is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ka.lɔ.ʁi\. Corpus data places it at rank #59,133 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

calorie doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is calorie, spelled C-A-L-O-R-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Unité de mesure historiquement définie comme la quantité de chaleur nécessaire pour élever de 1 °C la température de 1 gramme d’eau. Environ 4,2 joules. Il y a plusieurs définitions précises. Petite calorie. Le symbole : cal.
  2. 2
    Unité de mesure historiquement définie comme la quantité de chaleur nécessaire pour élever de 1 °C la température de 1 kilogramme d’eau, donc mille fois la définition précédente. Environ 4,2 kilojoules. Grande calorie. Le symbole : Cal.

Synonyms

petite caloriegrande caloriekilocalorie

This word in other languages

calorie(English)caloría(Español)Kalorie(Deutsch)caloria(Português)

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 "calorie"?
"calorie" is spelled C-A-L-O-R-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.lɔ.ʁi\.
What does "calorie" mean?
As a noun, "calorie" means: Unité de mesure historiquement définie comme la quantité de chaleur nécessaire pour élever de 1 °C la température de 1 gramme d’eau. Environ 4,2 joules. Il y a plusieurs définitions précises. Petit...
How do you pronounce "calorie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "calorie" is \ka.lɔ.ʁi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "calorie" come from?
"calorie" 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.

Using “calorie”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is C-A-L-O-R-I-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ka.lɔ.ʁi\ (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
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list