grigri

\ɡʁi.ɡʁi\

/\ɡʁi.ɡʁi\/ noun

The verdict

“grigri” is uncommon French (frequency #90,782 among 2,617 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,782
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - [Alt: Gri-gri grec en osier]Petit objet que l’on conserve par-devers soi pour écarter le mauvais sort ou les mauvais esprits.

Corpus desk

Index FR-grigri · grigri · French

grigri · rank #90,782 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,782
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH graça

Nearest frequency peer: graça (-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 « grigri »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for grigri
PropertyValue
Headwordgrigri
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡʁi.ɡʁi\
Letters6
Frequency rank#90,782
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « grigri » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).grigritombe 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: « graça » (#90,781), « grandiloquence » (#90,780), « grisonnant » (#90,784). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « grigri » est au #90,782. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

grigri is uncommon French at frequency #90,782 among 2,617 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡʁi.ɡʁi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for grigri, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is grigri, spelled G-R-I-G-R-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    [Alt: Gri-gri grec en osier]Petit objet que l’on conserve par-devers soi pour écarter le mauvais sort ou les mauvais esprits.
  2. 2
    Petit morceau de papier sur lequel le marabout écrit un texte, souvent un verset du Coran, et que l’on garde sur soi afin de se protéger.
  3. 3
    Tout objet de petite taille auquel on attribue une vertu magique bénéfique ou maléfique.
  4. 4
    Petit instrument utilisé par les amateurs d’escalade pour freiner la corde à laquelle sont encordés les grimpeurs.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mon guide me dit en grand secret, que les marchands qui ont de l’or, le cachent dans des grigris couverts d’une peau tannée, et qu’ils suspendent à leur cou avec une courroie de cuir.
  2. Elle feignit de ne pas comprendre ma malice et m’éleva sans colère jusqu’à elle. Alors ma tête heurte, sur sa poitrine, un grigri, et son pays m’apparaît, avec ses mornes et ses criques.

Synonyms

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 "grigri"?
"grigri" is spelled G-R-I-G-R-I. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡʁi.ɡʁi\.
What does "grigri" mean?
As a noun, "grigri" means: [Alt: Gri-gri grec en osier]Petit objet que l’on conserve par-devers soi pour écarter le mauvais sort ou les mauvais esprits.
How do you pronounce "grigri"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "grigri" is \ɡʁi.ɡʁi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "grigri" come from?
"grigri" 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 "grigri", 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