férule
\fe.ʁyl\
The verdict
“férule” is uncommon French (frequency #50,232 among 3,276 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,232
- frequency rank, French
- 3,276
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Plante de la famille des apiacées qui croissent principalement dans les régions méridionales et dont une espèce, l’ase fétide ou férule persique, originaire de Perse, est employée comme antispasmod...
Corpus desk
Index FR-ferule · férule · French
férule · rank #50,232 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #50,232
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,276
- PHOTO-FINISH fusain
Nearest frequency peer: fusain (-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 « férule »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- frimaire
frimaire
49,773 corpus weight
- Fulton
Fulton
49,772 corpus weight
- fusain
fusain
49,770 corpus weight
- férule
férule
49,769 corpus weight
- Gaillon
Gaillon
49,768 corpus weight
- galèrent
galèrent
49,767 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « férule » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | férule |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \fe.ʁyl\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #50,232 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « férule » en français
Rare enough to double-check
férule is uncommon French at frequency #50,232 among 3,276 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \fe.ʁyl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for férule, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is férule, spelled F-É-R-U-L-E.
Definition
- 1Plante de la famille des apiacées qui croissent principalement dans les régions méridionales et dont une espèce, l’ase fétide ou férule persique, originaire de Perse, est employée comme antispasmodique.
- 2Palette de bois ou de cuir dont on se servait autrefois pour frapper les écoliers fautifs.
- 3Bâton pastoral liturgique, marque de dignité que portaient non seulement les évêques, les abbés, mais quelquefois les papes.
- 4Le pouvoir d’exercer son autorité, son leadership.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how férule appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La férule commune, la férule persique.
Tenir la férule, exercer une autorité sévère.
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 "férule"?
What does "férule" mean?
How do you pronounce "férule"?
What language does "férule" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "férule", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).