crétin

\kʁe.tɛ̃\

/\kʁe.tɛ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“crétin” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #15,606. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#15,606
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Celui qui est affecté de crétinisme ou, par extension, de myxœdème congénital.

Corpus desk

Index FR-cretin · crétin · French

crétin · rank #15,606 · 10 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #15,606
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH demandaient

Nearest frequency peer: demandaient (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « crétin »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « crétin » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

crétin vs crin
67% similar
crétin vs crétins
86% similar
crétin vs crête
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for crétin
PropertyValue
Headwordcrétin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kʁe.tɛ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#15,606
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « crétin »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).crétinse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « demandaient » (#15,607), « Corinne » (#15,604), « dev » (#15,608). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « crétin » est au #15,606. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around crétin (IPA \kʁe.tɛ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,606 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for crétin, with forms such as "ccrétin", "cretin", and "crrétin". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "crin", "crétins", "crête", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is crétin, spelled C-R-É-T-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Celui qui est affecté de crétinisme ou, par extension, de myxœdème congénital.
  2. 2
    Idiot.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. À cinq heures et demie, nous traversions le bourg de Martigny, où je ne vis rien de remarquable que trois ou quatre crétins, qui, assis devant la porte de la maison paternelle, végétaient stupidement au soleil levant.
  2. Le bas Valais, la partie supérieure du Val d’Aoste en Piémont, la Maurienne et quelques vallées du Faucigny, sont les points des Alpes où l’on rencontre le plus de crétins : on peut dire que là le crétinisme est endémique. Le nom de crétin que l’on donne à ces malheureux est en dans toutes les Alpes sauf dans le Val d’Aoste où on nomme marrons peut être à…

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccrétin
  • cretin
  • crrétin
  • crtéin
  • créitn
  • crétinn
  • crétni
  • créttin
  • cértin
  • rcétin

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crétin - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccrétin1cretin1crrétin1crtéin2créitn2crétinn1crétni2créttin1
Edit distance from "crétin"

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 "crétin"?
"crétin" is spelled C-R-É-T-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kʁe.tɛ̃\.
What does "crétin" mean?
As a noun, "crétin" means: Celui qui est affecté de crétinisme ou, par extension, de myxœdème congénital.
What words are commonly confused with "crétin"?
"crétin" is commonly confused with "crin", "crétins", "crête". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "crétin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "crétin" is \kʁe.tɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "crétin" come from?
"crétin" 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 "crétin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list