clain

\klɛ̃\

/\klɛ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“clain” is uncommon French (frequency #72,185 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,185
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chanfrein fait dans l'épaisseur des douves du tonneau.

Corpus desk

Index FR-clain · clain · French

clain · rank #72,185 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,185
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH circonvolutio…

Nearest frequency peer: circonvolutions (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « clain »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for clain
PropertyValue
Headwordclain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\klɛ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#72,185
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « clain » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.claintombe 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: « circonvolutions » (#72,184), « clameurs » (#72,186), « clanique » (#72,187). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « clain » est au #72,185. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

clain is uncommon French at frequency #72,185 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \klɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Chanfrein fait dans l'épaisseur des douves du tonneau.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for clain, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, 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 pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is clain, spelled C-L-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chanfrein fait dans l'épaisseur des douves du tonneau.

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 "clain"?
"clain" is spelled C-L-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \klɛ̃\.
What does "clain" mean?
As a noun, "clain" means: Chanfrein fait dans l'épaisseur des douves du tonneau.
How do you pronounce "clain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "clain" is \klɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "clain" come from?
"clain" 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 "clain", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

cimon#72,182clebs#72,193caméo#72,152borna#72,124

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list