distal

\dis.tal\

/\dis.tal\/ adj

The verdict

“distal” is uncommon French (frequency #83,785 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,785
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est le plus éloigné du corps, du centre d’un organe, de l’origine d'une structure ou du point d’attache d’un membre au tronc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-distal · distal · French

distal · rank #83,785 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,785
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH distancier

Nearest frequency peer: distancier (+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 « distal »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for distal
PropertyValue
Headworddistal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\dis.tal\
Letters6
Frequency rank#83,785
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « distal » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).distaltombe 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: « distancier » (#83,786), « dioula » (#83,783), « distinguez » (#83,787). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « distal » est au #83,785. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

distal is uncommon French at frequency #83,785 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \dis.tal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for distal in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is distal, spelled D-I-S-T-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est le plus éloigné du corps, du centre d’un organe, de l’origine d'une structure ou du point d’attache d’un membre au tronc.
  2. 2
    Qui est le plus éloigné de la personne qui parle.
  3. 3
    Qui est le plus éloigné d'un lieu ou d’un moment.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. L’opération proprement dite fut effectuée avec un silex tranchant, à hauteur du tiers distal de l’humérus.
  2. Défini dans le domaine dentaire, distal représente la face d’une dent orientée vers l’arrière de l’arcade dentaire. Le côté opposé est le côté ou face "mésial". Les autres faces des dents étant définies par les mots "palatin" du côté du palais et "vestibulaire" du côté orienté entre les arcades dentaires et les lèvres ou les joues.

Antonyms

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 "distal"?
"distal" is spelled D-I-S-T-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \dis.tal\.
What does "distal" mean?
As an adjective, "distal" means: Qui est le plus éloigné du corps, du centre d’un organe, de l’origine d'une structure ou du point d’attache d’un membre au tronc.
How do you pronounce "distal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "distal" is \dis.tal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "distal" come from?
"distal" 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 "distal", 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