harpie

^((h aspiré))\aʁ.pi\

/^((h aspiré))\aʁ.pi\/ noun

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

The verdict

“harpie” is uncommon French (frequency #73,219 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,219
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Monstre fabuleux, qu’on représentait avec des ailes, un visage de femme, un corps de vautour et des ongles crochus, et qu’on imaginait être extrêmement vorace.

Corpus desk

Index FR-harpie · harpie · French

harpie · rank #73,219 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,219
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH Harbin

Nearest frequency peer: Harbin (-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 « harpie »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for harpie
PropertyValue
Headwordharpie
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA^((h aspiré))\aʁ.pi\
Letters6
Frequency rank#73,219
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « harpie » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.harpietombe 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: « Harbin » (#73,218), « halieutique » (#73,217), « Haschisch » (#73,221). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « harpie » est au #73,219. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

harpie is uncommon French at frequency #73,219 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed ^((h aspiré))\aʁ.pi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for harpie, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is harpie, spelled H-A-R-P-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Monstre fabuleux, qu’on représentait avec des ailes, un visage de femme, un corps de vautour et des ongles crochus, et qu’on imaginait être extrêmement vorace.
  2. 2
    Ceux qui sont avides du bien d’autrui ou qui sont âpres au gain.
  3. 3
    Femme méchante, criarde et acariâtre.
  4. 4
    Espèce de vautour ou d’aigle forestier d’Amérique du Sud, Harpia harpyja.
  5. 5
    Meuble représentant le monstre fabuleux du même nom dans les armoiries. Elle adopte généralement la position de l’aigle, c’est-à-dire posé de front, les ailes éployées, pattes écartées.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ces gens-là sont des harpies, de vraies harpies.
  2. La Tête-d’Aigle s’approcha de la prisonnière, et la délivrant des harpies qui la harcelaient…

This word in other languages

harpy(English)arpía(Español)Harpyie(Deutsch)harpia(Português)

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 "harpie"?
"harpie" is spelled H-A-R-P-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is ^((h aspiré))\aʁ.pi\.
What does "harpie" mean?
As a noun, "harpie" means: Monstre fabuleux, qu’on représentait avec des ailes, un visage de femme, un corps de vautour et des ongles crochus, et qu’on imaginait être extrêmement vorace.
How do you pronounce "harpie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "harpie" is ^((h aspiré))\aʁ.pi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "harpie" come from?
"harpie" 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 "harpie", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Harbin#73,218gâches#73,213Gudule#73,209hungry#73,234

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list