garde-main
\ɡaʁ.də.mɛ̃\
The verdict
“garde-main” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Papier que l’on met sous la main en écrivant, ou en dessinant, ou en brodant, afin de préserver l’ouvrage que l’on fait.
Corpus desk
Index FR-garde-main · garde-main · French
garde-main · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "G" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | garde-main |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɡaʁ.də.mɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « garde-main » en français
Rare enough to double-check
garde-main is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡaʁ.də.mɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for garde-main in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is garde-main, spelled G-A-R-D-E---M-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1Papier que l’on met sous la main en écrivant, ou en dessinant, ou en brodant, afin de préserver l’ouvrage que l’on fait.
- 2Morceau de matériau isolant thermique que l'on interpose entre sa main et le canon d'un arme que l'on veut déplacer alors que’lle est encore chaude après avoir été utilisée.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how garde-main appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La main du tireur est protégée contre l'échauffement à l'aide d'une pièce en bois de noyer, appelée garde-main, qui recouvre la partie supérieure du canon sur une longueur de 363 mm.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.