catafalque
\ka.ta.falk\
The verdict
“catafalque” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Estrade décorée sur laquelle on place le cercueil d’un mort, ou ce qui le représente, pendant une cérémonie funèbre.
Corpus desk
Index FR-catafalque · catafalque · French
catafalque · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | catafalque |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ka.ta.falk\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « catafalque » en français
Rare enough to double-check
catafalque is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.ta.falk\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Estrade décorée sur laquelle on place le cercueil d’un mort, ou ce qui le représente, pendant une cérémonie funèbre.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for catafalque, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is catafalque, spelled C-A-T-A-F-A-L-Q-U-E.
Definition
- 1Estrade décorée sur laquelle on place le cercueil d’un mort, ou ce qui le représente, pendant une cérémonie funèbre.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how catafalque appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
C’étaient les moines d’un couvent voisin, qui, […], suivaient d’un pas lugubre et mesuré, et en chantant des hymnes, le catafalque où le corps d’Athelsthane avait été placé, et que des vassaux portaient sur leurs épaules au château de Coningsburg, […].
Le muséum était tendu comme un catafalque.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.