flanquer

\flɑ̃.ke\

/\flɑ̃.ke\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“flanquer” is uncommon French (frequency #69,092 among 3,276 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,092
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Construire, élever la partie d’une fortification qui en voit une autre et qui lui sert de défense.

Corpus desk

Index FR-flanquer · flanquer · French

flanquer · rank #69,092 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,092
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH flibustiers

Nearest frequency peer: flibustiers (+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 « flanquer »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « flanquer » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for flanquer
PropertyValue
Headwordflanquer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\flɑ̃.ke\
Letters8
Frequency rank#69,092
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « flanquer » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).flanquertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « flibustiers » (#69,093), « flairer » (#69,090), « flirtent » (#69,094). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « flanquer » est au #69,092. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

flanquer is uncommon French at frequency #69,092 among 3,276 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \flɑ̃.ke\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for flanquer in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is flanquer, spelled F-L-A-N-Q-U-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Construire, élever la partie d’une fortification qui en voit une autre et qui lui sert de défense.
  2. 2
    Être en cette situation, en parlant des ouvrages ainsi disposés et de la partie d’une fortification ainsi disposée.
  3. 3
    Garnir sur le flanc, les flancs.
  4. 4
    Placer en flanc, à côté de quelque chose, en parlant d’objets.
  5. 5
    Se placer sur le flanc d’un régiment, d’une division, d’un corps d’armée pour le protéger.
  6. 6
    Le participe passé se dit en parlant d’une personne accompagnée souvent d’une autre.
  7. 7
    Pals, arbres et autres figures qui en ont d’autres à leur côté.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On a flanqué cette muraille de deux tours.
  2. Front-de-Bœuf, […], avait ajouté considérablement à la force de son château en bâtissant des tours sur le mur extérieur, de manière à le flanquer à chaque angle.

This word in other languages

flank(English)

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 "flanquer"?
"flanquer" is spelled F-L-A-N-Q-U-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \flɑ̃.ke\.
What does "flanquer" mean?
As a verb, "flanquer" means: Construire, élever la partie d’une fortification qui en voit une autre et qui lui sert de défense.
How do you pronounce "flanquer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "flanquer" is \flɑ̃.ke\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "flanquer" come from?
"flanquer" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "flanquer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

flirtent#69,094freinant#69,101farceurs#69,081families#69,080

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list