caustique

\kos.tik\

/\kos.tik\/ adj

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

The verdict

“caustique” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #37,716. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#37,716
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est brûlant, corrosif, en parlant des substances qui ont la propriété de brûler ou de désorganiser les matières vivantes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-caustique · caustique · French

caustique · rank #37,716 · 12 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #37,716
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH caïmans

Nearest frequency peer: caïmans (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « caustique »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « caustique » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

caustique vs cantique
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for caustique
PropertyValue
Headwordcaustique
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\kos.tik\
Letters9
Frequency rank#37,716
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « caustique »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).caustiquese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « caïmans » (#37,717), « casillas » (#37,714), « Ceuta » (#37,718). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « caustique » est au #37,716. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around caustique (IPA \kos.tik\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #37,716 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for caustique, with forms such as "acustique", "casutique", and "causitque". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "cantique", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is caustique, spelled C-A-U-S-T-I-Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est brûlant, corrosif, en parlant des substances qui ont la propriété de brûler ou de désorganiser les matières vivantes.
  2. 2
    Qui est brûlant, corrosif.
  3. 3
    Qui est cinglant, blessant dans la plaisanterie ou la satire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La cantharide est un remède caustique.
  2. Les savons sont généralement caustiques et renferment un excès d’alcali libre. On admet qu’ils agissent par leur alcali pour saponifier les corps gras.

Synonyms

mordant

This word in other languages

cáustico(Español)kaustisch(Deutsch)cáustico(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acustique
  • casutique
  • causitque
  • causstique
  • caustiqeu
  • caustiqque
  • caustiuqe
  • caustqiue
  • causttique
  • cautsique
  • ccaustique
  • cuastique

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of caustique - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

acustique2casutique2causitque2causstique1caustiqeu2caustiqque1caustiuqe2caustqiue2
Edit distance from "caustique"

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 "caustique"?
"caustique" is spelled C-A-U-S-T-I-Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kos.tik\.
What does "caustique" mean?
As an adjective, "caustique" means: Qui est brûlant, corrosif, en parlant des substances qui ont la propriété de brûler ou de désorganiser les matières vivantes.
What words are commonly confused with "caustique"?
"caustique" is commonly confused with "cantique". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "caustique"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "caustique" is \kos.tik\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "caustique" come from?
"caustique" 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 "caustique", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

calomnies#37,708byzantins#37,704correctif#37,749bavaroise#37,680

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

coincées12 variantsbastogne12 variantsbagnolet12 variantsdominées12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list