gambier

\ɡɑ̃.bje\

/\ɡɑ̃.bje\/ noun

The verdict

“gambier” is uncommon French (frequency #82,059 among 2,617 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,059
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Traverse de bois où le boucher suspend par les pattes les bêtes qu’il a tuées, et le chasseur son gibier. (Delboulle, Glossaire de la vallée d’Yères, page 154)

Corpus desk

Index FR-gambier · gambier · French

gambier · rank #82,059 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,059
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH gana

Nearest frequency peer: gana (+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 « gambier »

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 « gambier » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gambier
PropertyValue
Headwordgambier
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡɑ̃.bje\
Letters7
Frequency rank#82,059
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « gambier » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).gambiertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « gana » (#82,060), « gadoue » (#82,057), « garot » (#82,062). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gambier » est au #82,059. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gambier is uncommon French at frequency #82,059 among 2,617 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡɑ̃.bje\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

gambier doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is gambier, spelled G-A-M-B-I-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Traverse de bois où le boucher suspend par les pattes les bêtes qu’il a tuées, et le chasseur son gibier. (Delboulle, Glossaire de la vallée d’Yères, page 154)
  2. 2
    Outil utilisé autrefois pour la fabrication des miroirs, il s'agit d'une longue barre de métal destinée à mouvoir un autre outil.

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 "gambier"?
"gambier" is spelled G-A-M-B-I-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡɑ̃.bje\.
What does "gambier" mean?
As a noun, "gambier" means: Traverse de bois où le boucher suspend par les pattes les bêtes qu’il a tuées, et le chasseur son gibier. (Delboulle, Glossaire de la vallée d’Yères, page 154)
How do you pronounce "gambier"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gambier" is \ɡɑ̃.bje\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gambier" come from?
"gambier" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list