épigraphe

\e.pi.ɡʁaf\

/\e.pi.ɡʁaf\/ noun

The verdict

“épigraphe” is uncommon French (frequency #76,256 among 1,805 “É” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,256
frequency rank, French
1,805
“É” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Inscription sur un édifice.

Corpus desk

Index FR-epigraphe · épigraphe · French

épigraphe · rank #76,256 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,256
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,805
  • PHOTO-FINISH élancées

Nearest frequency peer: élancées (-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 « épigraphe »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for épigraphe
PropertyValue
Headwordépigraphe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\e.pi.ɡʁaf\
Letters9
Frequency rank#76,256
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « épigraphe » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.épigraphetombe 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: « élancées » (#76,255), « épilée » (#76,257), « éduc » (#76,254). Parmi 1,805 lemmes en « É », « épigraphe » est au #76,256. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

épigraphe is uncommon French at frequency #76,256 among 1,805 “É” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \e.pi.ɡʁaf\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for épigraphe in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is épigraphe, spelled É-P-I-G-R-A-P-H-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Inscription sur un édifice.
  2. 2
    Courte sentence, courte citation en tête d’un livre, d’un chapitre, etc., pour en indiquer l’objet ou l’esprit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le fronton du Panthéon porte l’épigraphe « Aux grands hommes, la patrie reconnaissante ».
  2. Il a pris pour épigraphe tel vers d’Homère, de Virgile.

Synonyms

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 "épigraphe"?
"épigraphe" is spelled É-P-I-G-R-A-P-H-E. The IPA pronunciation is \e.pi.ɡʁaf\.
What does "épigraphe" mean?
As a noun, "épigraphe" means: Inscription sur un édifice.
How do you pronounce "épigraphe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "épigraphe" is \e.pi.ɡʁaf\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "épigraphe" come from?
"épigraphe" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "épigraphe", 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