griffon

/\ɡʁi.fɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#35,975

in French word usage

Misspellings

9

tracked variants

Confusables

6

similar word pairs

griffon is aFrenchnoun. It means: Animal fabuleux, moitié aigle et moitié lion. Pronounced \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\. Often confused with grignon and grillon.

Key facts for griffon
PropertyValue
Headwordgriffon
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡʁi.fɔ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#35,975
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for griffon is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #35,975 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for griffon, with forms such as "ggriffon", "girffon", and "grfifon". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "grignon", "grillon", "griffe", 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 griffon, spelled G-R-I-F-F-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Animal fabuleux, moitié aigle et moitié lion.
  2. 2
    Meuble représentant l’animal fabuleux du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est généralement représenté rampant et tourné à dextre.
  3. 3
    Fontaine publique, car souvent la sortie d'eau était ornée d'une tête de griffon. Ce nom est toutefois encore assez courant dans les sources thermales.
  4. 4
    Ouverture naturelle d'où sort l'eau d'une source thermale.
  5. 5
    Nom vulgaire de certains oiseaux de proie.
  6. 6
    Hameçon double avec lequel on prend le brochet.
  7. 7
    Lime dentelée qui était utilisée par les tireurs d'or (ceux qui fabriquaient du fil d'or).
  8. 8
    Griffon des philosophes : Nom donné à l'antimoine par les alchimistes.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ggriffon,girffon,grfifon,griffno,griffonn,grifofn,grifon,grriffon,rgiffon

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for griffon

Misspelling Variants of "griffon"

ggriffon8girffon7grfifon7griffno7griffonn8grifofn7grifon6grriffon8
Misspelling Variants of "griffon"

Frequency rank: #35,975 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "griffon"?
"griffon" is spelled G-R-I-F-F-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\.
What does "griffon" mean?
As a noun, "griffon" means: Animal fabuleux, moitié aigle et moitié lion.
What words are commonly confused with "griffon"?
"griffon" is commonly confused with "grignon", "grillon", "griffe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "griffon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "griffon" is \ɡʁi.fɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "griffon" come from?
"griffon" 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 G 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.