cambouis
\kɑ̃.bwi\
The verdict
“cambouis” is uncommon French (frequency #55,118 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,118
- frequency rank, French
- 8,609
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Graisse avec laquelle on enduisait les essieux des voitures pour en faciliter le mouvement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-cambouis · cambouis · French
cambouis · rank #55,118 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,118
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 8,609
- PHOTO-FINISH caller
Nearest frequency peer: caller (-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 « cambouis »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- cadi
cadi
44,886 corpus weight
- cairn
cairn
44,885 corpus weight
- caller
caller
44,884 corpus weight
- cambouis
cambouis
44,883 corpus weight
- caractérisa…
caractérisait
44,882 corpus weight
- carnassiers
carnassiers
44,881 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « cambouis » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cambouis |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɑ̃.bwi\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #55,118 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « cambouis » en français
Rare enough to double-check
cambouis is uncommon French at frequency #55,118 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɑ̃.bwi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for cambouis in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
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 cambouis, spelled C-A-M-B-O-U-I-S.
Definition
- 1Graisse avec laquelle on enduisait les essieux des voitures pour en faciliter le mouvement.
- 2Graisse usagée et noircie dans la mécanique.
- 3Matière sébacée qui se trouve en quantité plus ou moins importante dans le prépuce de la verge des chevaux.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cambouis appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La veuve avait une robe verte garnie de chinchilla, qui lui allait comme une tache de cambouis sur le voile d’une mariée.
Les substances lubrifiantes ou enduits doivent être renouvelés souvent, car ils se chargent de poussière et de parcelles détachées des corps frottants, et ils forment une matière visqueuse nommée cambouis, qui augmente le frottement.
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); 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 "cambouis", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).