cortisol

\kɔʁ.ti.zɔl\

/\kɔʁ.ti.zɔl\/ noun

The verdict

“cortisol” is uncommon French (frequency #57,850 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,850
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Hormone du stress produite dans les glandes surrénales.

Corpus desk

Index FR-cortisol · cortisol · French

cortisol · rank #57,850 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,850
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH corporative

Nearest frequency peer: corporative (-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 « cortisol »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cortisol
PropertyValue
Headwordcortisol
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɔʁ.ti.zɔl\
Letters8
Frequency rank#57,850
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « cortisol » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).cortisoltombe 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: « corporative » (#57,849), « cosinus » (#57,851), « cosmologique » (#57,852). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « cortisol » est au #57,850. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cortisol is uncommon French at frequency #57,850 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɔʁ.ti.zɔl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Hormone du stress produite dans les glandes surrénales.".

No misspelling variants are generated for cortisol in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is cortisol, spelled C-O-R-T-I-S-O-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Hormone du stress produite dans les glandes surrénales.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Une insuffisance surrénalienne primaire partielle donne un tableau intermédiaire: l’élimination urinaire de cortisol est à la limite inférieure de l’intervalle normal ; de plus, le cortisol plasmatique répond à un test de stimulation court à l’ACTH.
  2. Le cortisol on l’appelle souvent l’hormone du stress, et c’est pas faux. Je suis sûr que les moines, par exemple, sécrètent très peu de cortisol.

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 "cortisol"?
"cortisol" is spelled C-O-R-T-I-S-O-L. The IPA pronunciation is \kɔʁ.ti.zɔl\.
What does "cortisol" mean?
As a noun, "cortisol" means: Hormone du stress produite dans les glandes surrénales.
How do you pronounce "cortisol"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cortisol" is \kɔʁ.ti.zɔl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cortisol" come from?
"cortisol" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "cortisol", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list