colophon
\kɔ.lɔ.fɔ̃\
The verdict
“colophon” is uncommon French (frequency #97,799 among 257,141 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #97,799
- frequency rank, French
- 257,141
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Note finale d’un manuscrit ou d’un livre, comportant le nom de l’auteur, la date, etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | colophon |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ.lɔ.fɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #97,799 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “colophon” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
colophon is uncommon French at frequency #97,799 among 257,141 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɔ.lɔ.fɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Note finale d’un manuscrit ou d’un livre, comportant le nom de l’auteur, la date, etc.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for colophon in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is colophon, spelled C-O-L-O-P-H-O-N.
Definition
- 1Note finale d’un manuscrit ou d’un livre, comportant le nom de l’auteur, la date, etc.
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
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Using “colophon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-L-O-P-H-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ.lɔ.fɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.