candela

\kɑ̃.de.la\

/\kɑ̃.de.la\/ noun

The verdict

“candela” is uncommon French (frequency #88,434 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,434
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Unité de mesure d’intensité lumineuse du Système international égale au lumen par stéradian, dont le symbole est cd.

Corpus desk

Index FR-candela · candela · French

candela · rank #88,434 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,434
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Canadians

Nearest frequency peer: Canadians (-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 « candela »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for candela
PropertyValue
Headwordcandela
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɑ̃.de.la\
Letters7
Frequency rank#88,434
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « candela » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).candelatombe 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: « Canadians » (#88,433), « cannoise » (#88,435), « camisards » (#88,432). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « candela » est au #88,434. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

candela is uncommon French at frequency #88,434 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɑ̃.de.la\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Unité de mesure d’intensité lumineuse du Système international égale au lumen par stéradian, dont le symbole est cd.".

No misspelling variants are generated for candela in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is candela, spelled C-A-N-D-E-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Unité de mesure d’intensité lumineuse du Système international égale au lumen par stéradian, dont le symbole est cd.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le coefficient d'efficacité lumineuse de la lumière à l'obscurité est K'm = 1.746 lumens par watt pour 60 candelas par cm² d'émission à la température de solidification du platine, soit 2.642 °K.
  2. Le cas du balisage aérien est un peu à part car il met en jeu des niveaux d'intensité lumineuse extrêmement importants (plusieurs dizaines voire centaines de milliers de candelas sous des angles faibles horizontalement entre 10 et 20° et sur 360°).

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

How do you spell "candela"?
"candela" is spelled C-A-N-D-E-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is \kɑ̃.de.la\.
What does "candela" mean?
As a noun, "candela" means: Unité de mesure d’intensité lumineuse du Système international égale au lumen par stéradian, dont le symbole est cd.
How do you pronounce "candela"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "candela" is \kɑ̃.de.la\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "candela" come from?
"candela" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "candela", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list