fer

/\fɛʁ\/ noun

By · Reviewed against Wiktionary & Hunspell sources ·

Letters

3 characters

Frequency Rank

#1,262

in French word usage

Misspellings

0

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

fer is aFrenchnoun. It means: Élément chimique de numéro atomique 26 et de symbole Fe qui fait partie des métaux de transition. Pronounced \fɛʁ\. It ranks #1,262 in French word frequency. Often confused with FN and fo.

Key facts for fer
PropertyValue
Headwordfer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fɛʁ\
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,262
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for fer is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fɛʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,262 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for fer in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable French patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "FN", "fo", "fm", 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 fer, spelled 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
    Élément chimique de numéro atomique 26 et de symbole Fe qui fait partie des métaux de transition.
  2. 2
    Corps simple métallique de cet élément, blanc grisâtre, ductile et malléable.
  3. 3
    Acier ne durcissant pas par trempe (acier doux, à faible teneur en carbone).
  4. 4
    Minéral contenant du fer.
  5. 5
    Substance ferrugineuse contenue dans certains aliments et indispensable au bon fonctionnement des organismes biologiques.
  6. 6
    Météorite de type sidérite, constituée essentiellement de fer et de nickel.
  7. 7
    Objet en fer.
  8. 8
    Lame d’une arme ou d’un outil.
  9. 9
    Fer-à-cheval, bande recourbée en fer formant une semelle, que l’on fixe sous la face inférieure du pied du cheval et de quelques autres bêtes de somme.
  10. 10
    Entraves ; chaînes ; menottes.
  11. 11
    Esclavage, état d’oppression.
  12. 12
    Club de golf à tête métallique, pour frapper la balle à distance longue ou intermédiaire.
  13. 13
    Profilé métallique obtenu par laminage ou étirage.
  14. 14
    Parties métalliques d’un composteur touchant la première et la dernière lettre en plomb, d’où les expressions fer à gauche et fer à droite désignant l’appui de la première lettre dans une ligne et ainsi l’alignement d’un texte en bout de justification à gauche et à droite. Ces expressions sont restées pour la photocomposition.
  15. 15
    Fer à repasser.
  16. 16
    Chemin de fer.
  17. 17
    Voir de fer.
  18. 18
    Nom donné à des truelles très fines utilisées pour lisser les joints.

Synonyms

Fe♂

This word in other languages

English(English)Spanish(Español)Portuguese(Português)German(Deutsch)

Frequency rank: #1,262 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fer"?
"fer" is spelled F-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \fɛʁ\.
What does "fer" mean?
As a noun, "fer" means: Élément chimique de numéro atomique 26 et de symbole Fe qui fait partie des métaux de transition.
What words are commonly confused with "fer"?
"fer" is commonly confused with "FN", "fo", "fm". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fer" is \fɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fer" come from?
"fer" 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 F in our French index:

All "F" wordsABCDEFGHIJKL

Explore PlainSpell

French Words

Browse all French

Words: F

Browse "f" words

Confusable Pairs

Commonly confused words

Spelling Guides

Tips & reference

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.