friction

/\fʁik.sjɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#26,014

in French word usage

Misspellings

12

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

friction is aFrenchnoun. It means: Frottement que l’on fait sur quelque partie du corps, à sec ou autrement, avec les mains, avec une brosse, avec de la flanelle, etc., pour activer la circulation, calmer une douleur, etc. Pronounced \fʁik.sjɔ̃\. Often confused with function and frictions.

Key facts for friction
PropertyValue
Headwordfriction
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fʁik.sjɔ̃\
Letters8
Frequency rank#26,014
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for friction is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fʁik.sjɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #26,014 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for friction, with forms such as "ffriction", "firction", and "frcition". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "function", "frictions", "fiction", 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 friction, spelled F-R-I-C-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Frottement que l’on fait sur quelque partie du corps, à sec ou autrement, avec les mains, avec une brosse, avec de la flanelle, etc., pour activer la circulation, calmer une douleur, etc.
  2. 2
    Lotion faite sur le cuir chevelu.
  3. 3
    Désaccord, accrochage.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ffriction,firction,frcition,fricction,friciton,frictino,frictionn,frictoin,fricttion,fritcion,frriction,rfiction

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for friction

Misspelling Variants of "friction"

ffriction9firction8frcition8fricction9friciton8frictino8frictionn9frictoin8
Misspelling Variants of "friction"

Frequency rank: #26,014 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "friction"?
"friction" is spelled F-R-I-C-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \fʁik.sjɔ̃\.
What does "friction" mean?
As a noun, "friction" means: Frottement que l’on fait sur quelque partie du corps, à sec ou autrement, avec les mains, avec une brosse, avec de la flanelle, etc., pour activer la circulation, calmer une douleur, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "friction"?
"friction" is commonly confused with "function", "frictions", "fiction". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "friction"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "friction" is \fʁik.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "friction" come from?
"friction" 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:

Explore PlainSpell

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