hirsute
\iʁ.syt\
The verdict
“hirsute” is uncommon French (frequency #59,340 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #59,340
- frequency rank, French
- 1,969
- “H” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est hérissé, d’aspect sauvage.
Corpus desk
Index FR-hirsute · hirsute · French
hirsute · rank #59,340 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #59,340
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,969
- PHOTO-FINISH hexagonales
Nearest frequency peer: hexagonales (-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 « hirsute »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- helvétiques
helvétiques
40,664 corpus weight
- hersant
hersant
40,663 corpus weight
- hexagonales
hexagonales
40,662 corpus weight
- hirsute
hirsute
40,661 corpus weight
- Histologie
Histologie
40,660 corpus weight
- historiogra…
historiographe
40,659 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « hirsute » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hirsute |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \iʁ.syt\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #59,340 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « hirsute » en français
Rare enough to double-check
hirsute is uncommon French at frequency #59,340 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \iʁ.syt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
hirsute has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is hirsute, spelled H-I-R-S-U-T-E.
Definition
- 1Qui est hérissé, d’aspect sauvage.
- 2Qui est farouche, sauvage.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how hirsute appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Même le petit Germain qui peinait devant lui à soutenir la bannière alourdie par le vent, le dégoûtait avec sa nuque creuse et sa calotte de travers sur une tignasse hirsute, avec ses épaules rachitiques, ses jambes tortes à la peau grenue, tachée de crasse et zèbrée de grafignures.
Deux types, l’un mal rasé avec des cheveux hirsutes et une chemise aux couleurs criardes, l'autre potelé et vêtu d'une veste en jean, parlaient à une belle brune plutôt grande.
Synonyms
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 "hirsute"?
What does "hirsute" mean?
How do you pronounce "hirsute"?
What language does "hirsute" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "hirsute", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).