holotype

\ɔ.lɔ.tip\

/\ɔ.lɔ.tip\/ noun

The verdict

“holotype” is uncommon French (frequency #71,581 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,581
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Spécimen de référence (conservé) qui a servi à la description d’une nouvelle espèce.

Corpus desk

Index FR-holotype · holotype · French

holotype · rank #71,581 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #71,581
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH Houria

Nearest frequency peer: Houria (+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 « holotype »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for holotype
PropertyValue
Headwordholotype
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔ.lɔ.tip\
Letters8
Frequency rank#71,581
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « holotype » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.holotypetombe 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: « Houria » (#71,582), « Hilbert » (#71,578), « Hurst » (#71,585). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « holotype » est au #71,581. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

holotype is uncommon French at frequency #71,581 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɔ.lɔ.tip\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Spécimen de référence (conservé) qui a servi à la description d’une nouvelle espèce.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for holotype, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is holotype, spelled H-O-L-O-T-Y-P-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Spécimen de référence (conservé) qui a servi à la description d’une nouvelle espèce.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. De même, Wernli suggère une paroi calcaire hyaline radiée partiellement recristallisée, peut-être perforée sur la base des illustrations de l’holotype.
  2. C’est ainsi que, par exemple, les pièces paléoanthropologiques extrêmement importantes, holotypes de ce qu’il [Camille Arambourg] a appelé l’Atlanthropus mauritanicus, Homo erectus maghrébin de 700 000 ans, extraites de ses fouilles à Ternifine (Tighennif) en Algérie en 1953-1954, font partie des collections du Muséum de Paris.

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 "holotype"?
"holotype" is spelled H-O-L-O-T-Y-P-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔ.lɔ.tip\.
What does "holotype" mean?
As a noun, "holotype" means: Spécimen de référence (conservé) qui a servi à la description d’une nouvelle espèce.
How do you pronounce "holotype"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "holotype" is \ɔ.lɔ.tip\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "holotype" come from?
"holotype" 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 "holotype", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list