défigurer

\de.fi.ɡy.ʁe\

/\de.fi.ɡy.ʁe\/ verb

The verdict

“défigurer” is uncommon French (frequency #58,567 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,567
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rendre méconnaissable en altérant physiquement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-defigurer · défigurer · French

défigurer · rank #58,567 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,567
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH déferle

Nearest frequency peer: déferle (-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 « défigurer »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for défigurer
PropertyValue
Headworddéfigurer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\de.fi.ɡy.ʁe\
Letters9
Frequency rank#58,567
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « défigurer » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.défigurertombe 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: « déferle » (#58,566), « démarrera » (#58,568), « dédommagements » (#58,565). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « défigurer » est au #58,567. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

défigurer is uncommon French at frequency #58,567 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \de.fi.ɡy.ʁe\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for défigurer in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is défigurer, spelled D-É-F-I-G-U-R-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rendre méconnaissable en altérant physiquement.
  2. 2
    Dénaturer en changeant la forme ou la figure.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Puis je presserai la groseille contre le voile du palais, et je ne serai défigurée ni par des convulsions, ni par une posture ridicule.
  2. La balle n'avait fait qu’érafler la joue et ne devait laisser d'autre trace de son passage qu'une balafre bien placée : une de ces balafres qui ne défigurent pas et qui plaisent aux femmes.

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 "défigurer"?
"défigurer" is spelled D-É-F-I-G-U-R-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \de.fi.ɡy.ʁe\.
What does "défigurer" mean?
As a verb, "défigurer" means: Rendre méconnaissable en altérant physiquement.
How do you pronounce "défigurer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "défigurer" is \de.fi.ɡy.ʁe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "défigurer" come from?
"défigurer" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "défigurer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list