carte postale

\kaʁt pɔs.tal\

/\kaʁt pɔs.tal\/ noun

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

The verdict

“carte postale” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Carte permettant l’envoi de courrier sans enveloppe, dont l’un des côtés est habituellement consacré à l’adresse et à la correspondance, l’autre étant habituellement illustré.

Key facts for carte postale
PropertyValue
Headwordcarte postale
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kaʁt pɔs.tal\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “carte postale” sits in French frequency

carte postale falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

carte postale is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \kaʁt pɔs.tal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

carte postale doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is carte postale, spelled C-A-R-T-E- -P-O-S-T-A-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Carte permettant l’envoi de courrier sans enveloppe, dont l’un des côtés est habituellement consacré à l’adresse et à la correspondance, l’autre étant habituellement illustré.
  2. 2
    Lieu ou paysage tellement beau qu’il ressemble au décor d’une carte postale.
  3. 3
    Court reportage ou courte présentation.

Synonyms

carte

This word in other languages

postcard(English)postal(Español)Postkarte(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "carte postale"?
"carte postale" is spelled C-A-R-T-E- -P-O-S-T-A-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kaʁt pɔs.tal\.
What does "carte postale" mean?
As a noun, "carte postale" means: Carte permettant l’envoi de courrier sans enveloppe, dont l’un des côtés est habituellement consacré à l’adresse et à la correspondance, l’autre étant habituellement illustré.
How do you pronounce "carte postale"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "carte postale" is \kaʁt pɔs.tal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "carte postale" come from?
"carte postale" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “carte postale”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is C-A-R-T-E- -P-O-S-T-A-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \kaʁt pɔs.tal\ (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