chinchilla

\ʃɛ̃.ʃi.la\

/\ʃɛ̃.ʃi.la\/ noun

The verdict

“chinchilla” is uncommon French (frequency #72,176 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,176
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nom usuel de trois espèces de petits rongeurs du genre Chinchilla de la famille des Chinchillidae, il comprend deux espèces sauvages devenues rares, vivant en Amérique du Sud, et une forme domestiq...

Corpus desk

Index FR-chinchilla · chinchilla · French

chinchilla · rank #72,176 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,176
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH Cherki

Nearest frequency peer: Cherki (-3 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 « chinchilla »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for chinchilla
PropertyValue
Headwordchinchilla
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʃɛ̃.ʃi.la\
Letters10
Frequency rank#72,176
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « chinchilla » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.chinchillatombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Cherki » (#72,173), « chronic » (#72,179), « churros » (#72,180). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « chinchilla » est au #72,176. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

chinchilla is uncommon French at frequency #72,176 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʃɛ̃.ʃi.la\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for chinchilla, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is chinchilla, spelled C-H-I-N-C-H-I-L-L-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nom usuel de trois espèces de petits rongeurs du genre Chinchilla de la famille des Chinchillidae, il comprend deux espèces sauvages devenues rares, vivant en Amérique du Sud, et une forme domestiquée. Il est élevé et chassé pour sa fourrure.
  2. 2
    Fourrure de cet animal.
  3. 3
    Couleur de cet animal.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. C’était le chinchilla, petit rongeur doux et craintif, riche en fourrure, qui tient le milieu entre le lièvre et la gerboise.
  2. La veuve avait une robe verte garnie de chinchilla, qui lui allait comme une tache de cambouis sur le voile d'une mariée

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

How do you spell "chinchilla"?
"chinchilla" is spelled C-H-I-N-C-H-I-L-L-A. The IPA pronunciation is \ʃɛ̃.ʃi.la\.
What does "chinchilla" mean?
As a noun, "chinchilla" means: Nom usuel de trois espèces de petits rongeurs du genre Chinchilla de la famille des Chinchillidae, il comprend deux espèces sauvages devenues rares, vivant en Amérique du Sud, et une forme domestiq...
How do you pronounce "chinchilla"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chinchilla" is \ʃɛ̃.ʃi.la\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chinchilla" come from?
"chinchilla" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "chinchilla", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list