camouflet

\ka.mu.flɛ\

/\ka.mu.flɛ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“camouflet” is uncommon French (frequency #64,299 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,299
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fumée épaisse que l’on souffle malicieusement dans le nez de quelqu’un avec un cornet de papier allumé.

Corpus desk

Index FR-camouflet · camouflet · French

camouflet · rank #64,299 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,299
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH calèches

Nearest frequency peer: calèches (-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 « camouflet »

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 « camouflet » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for camouflet
PropertyValue
Headwordcamouflet
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.mu.flɛ\
Letters9
Frequency rank#64,299
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « camouflet » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).camouflettombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « calèches » (#64,298), « canalise » (#64,300), « calomnier » (#64,297). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « camouflet » est au #64,299. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

camouflet is uncommon French at frequency #64,299 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.mu.flɛ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for camouflet, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is camouflet, spelled C-A-M-O-U-F-L-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fumée épaisse que l’on souffle malicieusement dans le nez de quelqu’un avec un cornet de papier allumé.
  2. 2
    Vexation humiliante, affront, offense.
  3. 3
    Fourneau de mine destiné à détruire une galerie ennemie tout en préservant, en surface, les ouvrages alliés.
  4. 4
    Explosion souterraine qui s’entend ou qui ne débouche pas à la surface, due à une mine qui a mal fonctionné, provoquant ainsi une chambre d’explosion fermée s’effondrant, le plus souvent sur elle-même.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Guide de mon esprit Qui surtout chéris le burlesque Souffle-moi par un camouflet Un style qui soit bien grotesque
  2. Vendôme apprit qu’il ne serait plus payé comme général d’armée; le camouflet fut violent

This word in other languages

affront(English)afronta(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 "camouflet"?
"camouflet" is spelled C-A-M-O-U-F-L-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.mu.flɛ\.
What does "camouflet" mean?
As a noun, "camouflet" means: Fumée épaisse que l’on souffle malicieusement dans le nez de quelqu’un avec un cornet de papier allumé.
How do you pronounce "camouflet"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "camouflet" is \ka.mu.flɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "camouflet" come from?
"camouflet" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "camouflet", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

calomnier#64,297burgondes#64,294breuvages#64,288colimaçon#64,323

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list