douve
\duv\
The verdict
“douve” is an uncommon French word, ranked #70,546 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #70,546
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nom de planches disposées en rond qui forment le corps du tonneau et qu’on fait tenir ensemble avec des cercles.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | douve |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \duv\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #70,546 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “douve” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for douve is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \duv\. Corpus data places it at rank #70,546 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
douve doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
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 douve, spelled D-O-U-V-E.
Definition
- 1Nom de planches disposées en rond qui forment le corps du tonneau et qu’on fait tenir ensemble avec des cercles.
- 2Fossé servant de limite aux champs et d’écoulement aux eaux.
- 3Paroi des fossés de la fortification ancienne ou, par extension, le fossé lui-même.
- 4Mur d’un bassin quand il n’est que d’une assise ou deux.
- 5Caverne que les habitants des bords de la Loire creusent dans le roc pour s’y loger.
- 6Planche sur laquelle on met les peaux de veaux pour les ratisser et en enlever les parcelles de tan.
- 7Un des types d'obstacle figurant dans les courses de steeple-chase.
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
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Using “douve”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is D-O-U-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \duv\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.