femtoseconde

\fɛm.tɔ.sə.ɡɔ̃d\

/\fɛm.tɔ.sə.ɡɔ̃d\/ noun

The verdict

“femtoseconde” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻¹⁵ seconde, et dont le symbole est fs.

Corpus desk

Index FR-femtoseconde · femtoseconde · French

femtoseconde · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "F" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for femtoseconde
PropertyValue
Headwordfemtoseconde
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fɛm.tɔ.sə.ɡɔ̃d\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « femtoseconde » en français

femtoseconden'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

femtoseconde is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \fɛm.tɔ.sə.ɡɔ̃d\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻¹⁵ seconde, et dont le symbole est fs.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for femtoseconde, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is femtoseconde, spelled F-E-M-T-O-S-E-C-O-N-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻¹⁵ seconde, et dont le symbole est fs.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les chiffres donnent le vertige: le système est capable d'atteindre un pic de 10 pétawatts (10 puissance 15 watts) pendant un temps ultra-bref, de l'ordre de la femtoseconde (un millionième de milliardième de seconde).
  2. Le laser femtoseconde permet de fendre ou de cliver la cornée par une action photodisruptive.

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

How do you spell "femtoseconde"?
"femtoseconde" is spelled F-E-M-T-O-S-E-C-O-N-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fɛm.tɔ.sə.ɡɔ̃d\.
What does "femtoseconde" mean?
As a noun, "femtoseconde" means: Unité de mesure de temps du Système international (SI), valant 10⁻¹⁵ seconde, et dont le symbole est fs.
How do you pronounce "femtoseconde"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "femtoseconde" is \fɛm.tɔ.sə.ɡɔ̃d\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "femtoseconde" come from?
"femtoseconde" 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list