gibbon

\ʒi.bɔ̃\

/\ʒi.bɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“gibbon” is uncommon French (frequency #60,820 among 2,617 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,820
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand singe d’Asie (genres Hylobates, Hoolook ou Nomascus, famille des hylobatidés).

Corpus desk

Index FR-gibbon · gibbon · French

gibbon · rank #60,820 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,820
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH geyser

Nearest frequency peer: geyser (-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 « gibbon »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gibbon
PropertyValue
Headwordgibbon
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʒi.bɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#60,820
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « gibbon » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).gibbontombe 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: « geyser » (#60,819), « gipsy » (#60,821), « Gerhardt » (#60,818). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gibbon » est au #60,820. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gibbon is uncommon French at frequency #60,820 among 2,617 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʒi.bɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Grand singe d’Asie (genres Hylobates, Hoolook ou Nomascus, famille des hylobatidés).".

gibbon doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is gibbon, spelled G-I-B-B-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grand singe d’Asie (genres Hylobates, Hoolook ou Nomascus, famille des hylobatidés).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Un des traits caractéristiques du gibbon est l'extraordinaire longueur de ses bras. Quand il se tient debout ses doigts touchent presque le sol.

This word in other languages

gibbon(English)gibón(Español)Gibbon(Deutsch)

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 "gibbon"?
"gibbon" is spelled G-I-B-B-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ʒi.bɔ̃\.
What does "gibbon" mean?
As a noun, "gibbon" means: Grand singe d’Asie (genres Hylobates, Hoolook ou Nomascus, famille des hylobatidés).
How do you pronounce "gibbon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gibbon" is \ʒi.bɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gibbon" come from?
"gibbon" 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 "gibbon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

geyser#60,819glitch#60,822Gauvin#60,813Gaudet#60,812

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list