état-major
\e.ta.ma.ʒɔʁ\
The verdict
“état-major” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ensemble des officiers sans troupes placés, auprès des chefs investis du commandement pour transmettre leurs ordres, en assurer l’exécution et coordonner les opérations des diverses armes et des se...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | état-major |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \e.ta.ma.ʒɔʁ\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “état-major” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for état-major is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \e.ta.ma.ʒɔʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for état-major in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
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 état-major, spelled É-T-A-T---M-A-J-O-R.
Definition
- 1Ensemble des officiers sans troupes placés, auprès des chefs investis du commandement pour transmettre leurs ordres, en assurer l’exécution et coordonner les opérations des diverses armes et des services militaires.
- 2L’ensemble des auxiliaires dont s’entoure un ingénieur, un savant, etc.
- 3Lieu où sont les bureaux de l’état-major.
- 4Boisson composée de vin blanc et de sirop de citron ou de sirop de sucre.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “état-major”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is É-T-A-T---M-A-J-O-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \e.ta.ma.ʒɔʁ\ (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.