gambit

\ɡɑ̃.bit\

/\ɡɑ̃.bit\/ noun

The verdict

“gambit” is uncommon French (frequency #74,024 among 2,617 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#74,024
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sacrifice d’une pièce en vue d’obtenir un avantage positionnel.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gambit · gambit · French

gambit · rank #74,024 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #74,024
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH gambas

Nearest frequency peer: gambas (-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 « gambit »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gambit
PropertyValue
Headwordgambit
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡɑ̃.bit\
Letters6
Frequency rank#74,024
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « gambit » en français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « gambas » (#74,023), « gaou » (#74,025), « Gallium » (#74,022). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gambit » est au #74,024. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gambit is uncommon French at frequency #74,024 among 2,617 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡɑ̃.bit\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for gambit in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is gambit, spelled G-A-M-B-I-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sacrifice d’une pièce en vue d’obtenir un avantage positionnel.
  2. 2
    Type d’ouverture présentant un tel sacrifice.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il en était à se dire qu’il pouvait bien laisser Frolov manger son pion en F6 avec sa tour si c’est ce qu’il voulait, que le gambit en valait la peine.
  2. Aux échecs, un gambit peut être accepté, si la pièce offerte est prise, sinon il est refusé.

Synonyms

sacrifice positionnel

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 "gambit"?
"gambit" is spelled G-A-M-B-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡɑ̃.bit\.
What does "gambit" mean?
As a noun, "gambit" means: Sacrifice d’une pièce en vue d’obtenir un avantage positionnel.
How do you pronounce "gambit"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gambit" is \ɡɑ̃.bit\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gambit" come from?
"gambit" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list