colophane

\kɔ.lɔ.fan\

/\kɔ.lɔ.fan\/ noun

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

The verdict

“colophane” is uncommon French (frequency #92,562 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,562
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Résidu solide issu de la distillation de la térébenthine brute — ou parfois d’autres oléorésines —, il reste au fond des alambics.

Corpus desk

Index FR-colophane · colophane · French

colophane · rank #92,562 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,562
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cognacs

Nearest frequency peer: cognacs (-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 « colophane »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for colophane
PropertyValue
Headwordcolophane
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ.lɔ.fan\
Letters9
Frequency rank#92,562
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « colophane » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.colophanetombe 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: « cognacs » (#92,561), « colours » (#92,563), « colportage » (#92,564). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « colophane » est au #92,562. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

colophane is uncommon French at frequency #92,562 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɔ.lɔ.fan\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for colophane in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is colophane, spelled C-O-L-O-P-H-A-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Résidu solide issu de la distillation de la térébenthine brute — ou parfois d’autres oléorésines —, il reste au fond des alambics.
  2. 2
    Sorte de résine dont on se sert pour enduire les crins de l’archet d’un instrument à cordes ou les mains des sportifs afin de mieux agripper les objets.
  3. 3
    Nom donné à des arbres de la famille des burséracées, endémiques de l'île Maurice.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La colophane est le résidu de la distillation des oléo-résines (térébenthines) des conifères. Lorsqu'on a distillé ces oléo-résines, on coule les résidus sur des filtres à mailles métalliques très serrées et on laisse durcir le produit obtenu par refroidissement.
  2. Sans compter que les voleurs ont pris, en même temps que mon pantalon, ma colophane qui s’y trouvait !

Synonyms

rosine

This word in other languages

rosin(English)Kolophonium(Deutsch)

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 "colophane"?
"colophane" is spelled C-O-L-O-P-H-A-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ.lɔ.fan\.
What does "colophane" mean?
As a noun, "colophane" means: Résidu solide issu de la distillation de la térébenthine brute — ou parfois d’autres oléorésines —, il reste au fond des alambics.
How do you pronounce "colophane"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "colophane" is \kɔ.lɔ.fan\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "colophane" come from?
"colophane" 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 "colophane", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

complexés#92,572cimentier#92,551confinent#92,578contralto#92,583

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list