ciste

\sist\

/\sist\/ noun

The verdict

“ciste” is uncommon French (frequency #90,549 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,549
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Arbrisseau poussant le plus souvent sur le pourtour méditerranéen, à feuilles persistantes simples, souvent velues, aux fleurs à cinq pétales, souvent plissés roses ou blancs.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ciste · ciste · French

ciste · rank #90,549 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,549
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH classez

Nearest frequency peer: classez (+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 « ciste »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ciste
PropertyValue
Headwordciste
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sist\
Letters5
Frequency rank#90,549
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ciste » en français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « classez » (#90,552), « chosen » (#90,545), « clôturent » (#90,554). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « ciste » est au #90,549. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ciste is uncommon French at frequency #90,549 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \sist\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Arbrisseau poussant le plus souvent sur le pourtour méditerranéen, à feuilles persistantes simples, souvent velues, aux fleurs à cinq pétales, souvent plissés roses ou blancs.".

ciste has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology 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 ciste, spelled C-I-S-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Arbrisseau poussant le plus souvent sur le pourtour méditerranéen, à feuilles persistantes simples, souvent velues, aux fleurs à cinq pétales, souvent plissés roses ou blancs.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Une espèce de ciste, le ciste de Crète, donne une sorte de gomme odorante nommée ladanum qui était en usage en médecine.
  2. Les cistes sont, comme nous l’avons indiqué, des plantes méditerranéennes; elles sont spéciales aux pentes qui inclinent vers notre mer intérieure.

Synonyms

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 "ciste"?
"ciste" is spelled C-I-S-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sist\.
What does "ciste" mean?
As a noun, "ciste" means: Arbrisseau poussant le plus souvent sur le pourtour méditerranéen, à feuilles persistantes simples, souvent velues, aux fleurs à cinq pétales, souvent plissés roses ou blancs.
How do you pronounce "ciste"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ciste" is \sist\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ciste" come from?
"ciste" 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 "ciste", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list