épouvantail

/\e.pu.vɑ̃.taj\/ noun

Letters

11 characters

Frequency Rank

#26,589

in French word usage

Misspellings

16

tracked variants

Confusables

1

similar word pairs

épouvantail is aFrenchnoun. It means: Haillon que l’on met au bout d’une perche, d’un bâton dans les chènevières, dans les champs, dans les jardins, pour épouvanter les oiseaux. Pronounced \e.pu.vɑ̃.taj\. Often confused with épouvantable.

Key facts for épouvantail
PropertyValue
Headwordépouvantail
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\e.pu.vɑ̃.taj\
Letters11
Frequency rank#26,589
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for épouvantail is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \e.pu.vɑ̃.taj\. Corpus data places it at rank #26,589 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 16 documented wrong-spelling variants for épouvantail, with forms such as "epouvantail", "péouvantail", and "éopuvantail". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "épouvantable", 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 épouvantail, spelled É-P-O-U-V-A-N-T-A-I-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Haillon que l’on met au bout d’une perche, d’un bâton dans les chènevières, dans les champs, dans les jardins, pour épouvanter les oiseaux.
  2. 2
    Ce qui sert à épouvanter des humains.
  3. 3
    Personne habillée ridiculement.
  4. 4
    Se dit pour donner à entendre qu’une personne ou qu’une chose, dont on veut nous faire peur, n’est propre qu’à épouvanter des personnes timides.
  5. 5
    Cheval qui apparaît comme déclassé et imbattable dans une course, dont il est le grandissime favori.
  6. 6
    Figure de rhétorique, synonyme d’homme de paille.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: epouvantail,péouvantail,éopuvantail,épouavntail,épouvanatil,épouvanntail,épouvantaill,épouvantali,épouvantial,épouvanttail,épouvatnail,épouvnatail,épouvvantail,épovuantail,éppouvantail,épuovantail

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for épouvantail

Misspelling Variants of "épouvantail"

epouvantail11péouvantail11éopuvantail11épouavntail11épouvanatil11épouvanntail12épouvantaill12épouvantali11
Misspelling Variants of "épouvantail"

Frequency rank: #26,589 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "épouvantail"?
"épouvantail" is spelled É-P-O-U-V-A-N-T-A-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is \e.pu.vɑ̃.taj\.
What does "épouvantail" mean?
As a noun, "épouvantail" means: Haillon que l’on met au bout d’une perche, d’un bâton dans les chènevières, dans les champs, dans les jardins, pour épouvanter les oiseaux.
What words are commonly confused with "épouvantail"?
"épouvantail" is commonly confused with "épouvantable". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "épouvantail"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "épouvantail" is \e.pu.vɑ̃.taj\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "épouvantail" come from?
"épouvantail" 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 É 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.