enfer

/\ɑ̃.fɛʁ\/ noun

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#2,775

in French word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

enfer is aFrenchnoun. It means: Séjour des morts, avant le christianisme. Pronounced \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\. It ranks #2,775 in French word frequency. Often confused with EnR and ever.

Key facts for enfer
PropertyValue
Headwordenfer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɑ̃.fɛʁ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#2,775
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for enfer is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,775 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for enfer, with forms such as "efner", "enefr", and "enferr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "EnR", "ever", "enfin", 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 enfer, spelled E-N-F-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Séjour des morts, avant le christianisme.
  2. 2
    Lieux souterrains où les Grecs et les Romains croyaient que les âmes allaient après la mort.
  3. 3
    Lieu destiné au supplice des damnés.
  4. 4
    Lieu où l’on souffre, où l’on est au supplice, où l’on est extrêmement gêné, tourmenté, où il y a beaucoup de confusion et de désordre.
  5. 5
    Démons ; puissances de l’enfer.
  6. 6
    Partie réservée d’une bibliothèque où sont conservés les ouvrages dont la communication est jugée dangereuse, considérés comme licencieux ou « contraires aux bonnes mœurs ». Créé au début du XIXᵉ siècle, il s’agissait au départ d’une simple pièce dans laquelle on enfermait ou cadenassait toutes les œuvres (livres, médailles, etc.) ou objets le plus souvent à caractère érotique et qui étaient interdits au grand public, mais accessible uniquement sur recommandation.
  7. 7
    Citerne où se recueillent les eaux mêlées au marc d’olive dans les huileries. On en tire une huile de basse qualité dite « huile d’enfer ».
  8. 8
    Phare situé en mer (où la vie est rude).

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: efner,enefr,enferr,enffer,enfre,ennfer,nefer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for enfer

Misspelling Variants of "enfer"

efner5enefr5enferr6enffer6enfre5ennfer6nefer5
Misspelling Variants of "enfer"

Frequency rank: #2,775 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "enfer"?
"enfer" is spelled E-N-F-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\.
What does "enfer" mean?
As a noun, "enfer" means: Séjour des morts, avant le christianisme.
What words are commonly confused with "enfer"?
"enfer" is commonly confused with "EnR", "ever", "enfin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "enfer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "enfer" is \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "enfer" come from?
"enfer" 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 E 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.