canut

\ka.ny\

/\ka.ny\/ noun

The verdict

“canut” is uncommon French (frequency #78,228 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,228
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ouvrier tisserand de soie travaillant sur un métier à tisser, au XIXᵉ.

Corpus desk

Index FR-canut · canut · French

canut · rank #78,228 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,228
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cantina

Nearest frequency peer: cantina (-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 « canut »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for canut
PropertyValue
Headwordcanut
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.ny\
Letters5
Frequency rank#78,228
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « canut » en français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « cantina » (#78,227), « Candid » (#78,226), « cardiopathie » (#78,230). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « canut » est au #78,228. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

canut is uncommon French at frequency #78,228 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.ny\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for canut, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is canut, spelled C-A-N-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ouvrier tisserand de soie travaillant sur un métier à tisser, au XIXᵉ.
  2. 2
    Personne très pauvre.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les canuts n’ayant pas de vin Aux Charpennes courent soudain.
  2. Un canut travaille tout le jour dans le mauvais air, gagne vingt sous, et meurt de faim. […]. Un canut est libre direz-vous ? Libre de quoi, s'il vous plait ? Libre de se promener, s'il a le temps ; de boire, manger ? s'il a de quoi de vivre ? pas toujours ; de se tuer ? davantage, si on ne l'empêche pourtant : c'est un esclave lié, garrotté par la misère…

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 "canut"?
"canut" is spelled C-A-N-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.ny\.
What does "canut" mean?
As a noun, "canut" means: Ouvrier tisserand de soie travaillant sur un métier à tisser, au XIXᵉ.
How do you pronounce "canut"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "canut" is \ka.ny\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "canut" come from?
"canut" 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 "canut", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list