cellophane
\se.lɔ.fan\
The verdict
“cellophane” is an uncommon French word, ranked #63,607 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #63,607
- frequency rank, French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pellicule fine et transparente constituée d’hydrate de cellulose, utilisée pour certains emballages.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cellophane |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \se.lɔ.fan\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #63,607 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cellophane” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for cellophane is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \se.lɔ.fan\. Corpus data places it at rank #63,607 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for cellophane in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is cellophane, spelled C-E-L-L-O-P-H-A-N-E.
Definition
- 1Pellicule fine et transparente constituée d’hydrate de cellulose, utilisée pour certains emballages.
- 2Tout film plastique transparent qui sert à l’emballage, même si ce n’est pas à proprement parler de la cellophane, mais plus souvent du polyéthylène ou du PVC.
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
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Using “cellophane”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-E-L-L-O-P-H-A-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \se.lɔ.fan\ (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.