cigale

/\si.ɡal\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#32,744

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

12

similar word pairs

cigale is aFrenchnoun. It means: Insecte ailé de la famille des cicadidés, commun dans les régions méditerranéennes. Pronounced \si.ɡal\. Often confused with civile and cigare.

Key facts for cigale
PropertyValue
Headwordcigale
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\si.ɡal\
Letters6
Frequency rank#32,744
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of cigale in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for cigale is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \si.ɡal\. Corpus data places it at rank #32,744 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for cigale, with forms such as "ccigale", "cgiale", and "ciagle". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "civile", "cigare", "circle", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is cigale, spelled C-I-G-A-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Insecte ailé de la famille des cicadidés, commun dans les régions méditerranéennes.
  2. 2
    Personne qui ne se soucie guère de l’avenir, en opposition à la fourmi et en référence à la fable de La Fontaine.
  3. 3
    Manille fixée sur le jas d'une ancre pour y fixer une chaîne ou un câble, organeau.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccigale,cgiale,ciagle,cigael,cigalle,ciggale,ciglae,icgale

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for cigale

Misspelling Variants of "cigale"

ccigale7cgiale6ciagle6cigael6cigalle7ciggale7ciglae6icgale6
Misspelling Variants of "cigale"

Frequency rank: #32,744 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cigale"?
"cigale" is spelled C-I-G-A-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \si.ɡal\.
What does "cigale" mean?
As a noun, "cigale" means: Insecte ailé de la famille des cicadidés, commun dans les régions méditerranéennes.
What words are commonly confused with "cigale"?
"cigale" is commonly confused with "civile", "cigare", "circle". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cigale"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cigale" is \si.ɡal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cigale" come from?
"cigale" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.