délicat

/\de.li.ka\/ adj

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#7,178

in French word usage

Misspellings

11

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

délicat is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui est d’une très grande finesse, très délié. Pronounced \de.li.ka\. It ranks #7,178 in French word frequency. Often confused with délit and délice.

Key facts for délicat
PropertyValue
Headworddélicat
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\de.li.ka\
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,178
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of délicat in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for délicat is 7 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \de.li.ka\. Corpus data places it at rank #7,178 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for délicat, with forms such as "ddélicat", "delicat", and "dléicat". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "délit", "délice", "délices", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is délicat, spelled D-É-L-I-C-A-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est d’une très grande finesse, très délié.
  2. 2
    Qui est fait, travaillé, façonné avec adresse et légèreté, avec un soin extrême et une attention minutieuse.
  3. 3
    qui fait preuve d’adresse et de légèreté.
  4. 4
    Se dit des manières de penser et de s’exprimer, lorsqu’elles ont de la finesse, de la grâce, de la sensibilité.
  5. 5
    Ce qui est fait ou exprimé d’une manière ingénieuse et détournée par ménagement, par courtoisie, par modestie, par fierté.
  6. 6
    Subtil.
  7. 7
    Qui est faible, qui s’altère facilement.
  8. 8
    Qui est agréable au goût, et se dit surtout des aliments choisis et recherchés.
  9. 9
    Frêle et fragile.
  10. 10
    Qui est difficile, embarrassant, dangereux, périlleux.
  11. 11
    Qui est sensible, qui juge finement de ce qui regarde les sens ou l’esprit.
  12. 12
    Qui est difficile à contenter.
  13. 13
    Qui est susceptible, facile à choquer, à offenser.
  14. 14
    Qui est scrupuleux sur ce qui concerne la probité, la morale, ou les simples bienséances.
  15. 15
    Qui est conforme à la probité, à la morale, aux bienséances.
  16. 16
    Se dit d'un cheval de trot qui requiert une vigilance particulière car son tempérament lui fait courir le risque de se montrer fautif dans ses allures, notamment en se mettant au galop.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddélicat,delicat,dléicat,déilcat,délciat,déliact,délicatt,déliccat,délicta,déllicat,édlicat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for délicat

Misspelling Variants of "délicat"

ddélicat8delicat7dléicat7déilcat7délciat7déliact7délicatt8déliccat8
Misspelling Variants of "délicat"

Frequency rank: #7,178 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "délicat"?
"délicat" is spelled D-É-L-I-C-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is \de.li.ka\.
What does "délicat" mean?
As an adj, "délicat" means: Qui est d’une très grande finesse, très délié.
What words are commonly confused with "délicat"?
"délicat" is commonly confused with "délit", "délice", "délices". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "délicat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "délicat" is \de.li.ka\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "délicat" come from?
"délicat" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.