copeau

\kɔ.po\

/\kɔ.po\/ noun

The verdict

“copeau” is uncommon French (frequency #62,168 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,168
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Éclat, morceau ou rognure qu’on enlève du bois avec un instrument tranchant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-copeau · copeau · French

copeau · rank #62,168 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,168
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH convalescent

Nearest frequency peer: convalescent (-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 « copeau »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for copeau
PropertyValue
Headwordcopeau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔ.po\
Letters6
Frequency rank#62,168
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « copeau » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).copeautombe 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: « convalescent » (#62,167), « corrélés » (#62,169), « contrefait » (#62,166). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « copeau » est au #62,168. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

copeau is uncommon French at frequency #62,168 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɔ.po\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for copeau in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is copeau, spelled C-O-P-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Éclat, morceau ou rognure qu’on enlève du bois avec un instrument tranchant.
  2. 2
    Tortillon de métal.
  3. 3
    Lamelles de bois très fines dont on fait des peignes ou des ornements.
  4. 4
    Tranches fines de roche schisteuse dont on fait les ardoises.
  5. 5
    Frites.
  6. 6
    Petits morceaux, bribes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Gros copeaux.
  2. Menus copeaux.

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 "copeau"?
"copeau" is spelled C-O-P-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔ.po\.
What does "copeau" mean?
As a noun, "copeau" means: Éclat, morceau ou rognure qu’on enlève du bois avec un instrument tranchant.
How do you pronounce "copeau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "copeau" is \kɔ.po\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "copeau" come from?
"copeau" 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 "copeau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list