harmattan

\aʁ.ma.tɑ̃\

/\aʁ.ma.tɑ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“harmattan” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #23,230. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,230
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords
12
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Alizé hivernal, froid, sec, poussiéreux, soufflant en Afrique de l’Ouest du Sahara vers le golfe de Guinée, entre la fin novembre et le milieu du mois de mars.

Corpus desk

Index FR-harmattan · harmattan · French

harmattan · rank #23,230 · 12 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,230
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH haïtiens

Nearest frequency peer: haïtiens (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « harmattan »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « harmattan » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for harmattan
PropertyValue
Headwordharmattan
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\aʁ.ma.tɑ̃\
Letters9
Frequency rank#23,230
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « harmattan »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.harmattanse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « haïtiens » (#23,231), « gravées » (#23,227), « homologation » (#23,233). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « harmattan » est au #23,230. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around harmattan (IPA \aʁ.ma.tɑ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #23,230 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Alizé hivernal, froid, sec, poussiéreux, soufflant en Afrique de l’Ouest du Sahara vers le golfe de Guinée, entre la fin novembre et le milieu du mois de mars.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for harmattan, with forms such as "ahrmattan", "hamrattan", and "haramttan". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is harmattan, spelled H-A-R-M-A-T-T-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Alizé hivernal, froid, sec, poussiéreux, soufflant en Afrique de l’Ouest du Sahara vers le golfe de Guinée, entre la fin novembre et le milieu du mois de mars.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Après la fête du Nouvel an, l’harmattan est fortement ressenti par les Abidjanais, dont certains changent de mode vestimentaire.
  2. Certains jours, le ciel est tout couvert, l’harmattan souffle en fortes bourrasques et transporte poussière et sable.

This word in other languages

harmattan(English)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ahrmattan
  • hamrattan
  • haramttan
  • harmatan
  • harmatatn
  • harmattann
  • harmattna
  • harmmattan
  • harmtatan
  • harrmattan
  • hharmattan
  • hramattan

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of harmattan - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ahrmattan2hamrattan2haramttan2harmatan1harmatatn2harmattann1harmattna2harmmattan1
Edit distance from "harmattan"

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 "harmattan"?
"harmattan" is spelled H-A-R-M-A-T-T-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is \aʁ.ma.tɑ̃\.
What does "harmattan" mean?
As a noun, "harmattan" means: Alizé hivernal, froid, sec, poussiéreux, soufflant en Afrique de l’Ouest du Sahara vers le golfe de Guinée, entre la fin novembre et le milieu du mois de mars.
What are common misspellings of "harmattan"?
Common misspellings include "ahrmattan", "hamrattan", "haramttan", "harmatan", "harmatatn". The correct spelling is "harmattan".
How do you pronounce "harmattan"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "harmattan" is \aʁ.ma.tɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "harmattan" come from?
"harmattan" 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 "harmattan", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

importent#23,240frondeurs#23,219impériaux#23,241inaperçue#23,242

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Flaubert12 variantsinjustes12 variantsinstallez12 variantsintellect12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list