edelweiss

\e.dɛl.vajs\

/\e.dɛl.vajs\/ noun

The verdict

“edelweiss” is uncommon French (frequency #67,480 among 3,255 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,480
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Variante de édelweiss.

Corpus desk

Index FR-edelweiss · edelweiss · French

edelweiss · rank #67,480 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,480
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH Ecclésiaste

Nearest frequency peer: Ecclésiaste (-2 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 « edelweiss »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for edelweiss
PropertyValue
Headwordedelweiss
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\e.dɛl.vajs\
Letters9
Frequency rank#67,480
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « edelweiss » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.edelweisstombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Ecclésiaste » (#67,478), « EDP » (#67,482), « Eberhard » (#67,477). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « edelweiss » est au #67,480. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

edelweiss is uncommon French at frequency #67,480 among 3,255 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \e.dɛl.vajs\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Variante de édelweiss.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for edelweiss in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is edelweiss, spelled E-D-E-L-W-E-I-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Variante de édelweiss.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Immanquables, des plantes protégées telles que le sabot de Vénus de la famille des Orchidacées, le chardon bleu des Alpes, mais aussi l’emblème de la Savoie, l’edelweiss, minuscule en haute montagne qui peut atteindre des proportions plus importantes en plaine.
  2. Un edelweiss séché glissa d’une des enveloppes de rhodoïd et M. Abel le replaça avec des gestes précautionneux sur la photo aux vilaines couleurs qui lui servait de support : sur un vague fond de mosquée, trois militaires en calot et treillis se tenaient par l’épaule.

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 "edelweiss"?
"edelweiss" is spelled E-D-E-L-W-E-I-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is \e.dɛl.vajs\.
What does "edelweiss" mean?
As a noun, "edelweiss" means: Variante de édelweiss.
How do you pronounce "edelweiss"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "edelweiss" is \e.dɛl.vajs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "edelweiss" come from?
"edelweiss" 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 "edelweiss", 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