herbivore

\ɛʁ.bi.vɔʁ\

/\ɛʁ.bi.vɔʁ\/ adj

The verdict

“herbivore” is uncommon French (frequency #70,712 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,712
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui se nourrit d'herbe, principalement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-herbivore · herbivore · French

herbivore · rank #70,712 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,712
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH hera

Nearest frequency peer: hera (-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 « herbivore »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for herbivore
PropertyValue
Headwordherbivore
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛʁ.bi.vɔʁ\
Letters9
Frequency rank#70,712
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « herbivore » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.herbivoretombe 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: « hera » (#70,711), « Henkel » (#70,710), « Heredia » (#70,714). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « herbivore » est au #70,712. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

herbivore is uncommon French at frequency #70,712 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ɛʁ.bi.vɔʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

herbivore has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Our source data has no etymology on file 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 herbivore, spelled H-E-R-B-I-V-O-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui se nourrit d'herbe, principalement.
  2. 2
    Qui se nourrit de substances végétales.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le ragondin présente un régime alimentaire herbivore. C'est un rongeur polyphage qui s'attaque aux bulbes et aux racines des plantes aquatiques en particulier les roseaux. Il aime aussi potamots et laîches, scirpes, trèfles, lentilles d'eau, nénuphars et cultures […].
  2. Introduire des herbivores dans les champs peut aussi être une solution. Par exemple, une piste qui est actuellement expérimentée par le CIRAD dans des bananeraies de Guadeloupe est d’utiliser des moutons pour gérer l’enherbement.

This word in other languages

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 "herbivore"?
"herbivore" is spelled H-E-R-B-I-V-O-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛʁ.bi.vɔʁ\.
What does "herbivore" mean?
As an adjective, "herbivore" means: Qui se nourrit d'herbe, principalement.
How do you pronounce "herbivore"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "herbivore" is \ɛʁ.bi.vɔʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "herbivore" come from?
"herbivore" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "herbivore", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list