imaginary number
\ɪ.ˌmædʒ.ə.ˌnɛɹ.i ˈnʌm.bɚ\
The verdict
“imaginary number” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nombre imaginaire.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | imaginary number |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɪ.ˌmædʒ.ə.ˌnɛɹ.i ˈnʌm.bɚ\ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “imaginary number” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for imaginary number is 16 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɪ.ˌmædʒ.ə.ˌnɛɹ.i ˈnʌm.bɚ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Nombre imaginaire.".
No misspelling variants are generated for imaginary number in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is imaginary number, spelled I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-Y- -N-U-M-B-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Nombre imaginaire.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “imaginary number, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/imaginary-number
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "imaginary number"?
What does "imaginary number" mean?
How do you pronounce "imaginary number"?
What language does "imaginary number" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “imaginary number”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is I-M-A-G-I-N-A-R-Y- -N-U-M-B-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɪ.ˌmædʒ.ə.ˌnɛɹ.i ˈnʌm.bɚ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Nearby French words
Other entries that begin with the letter I in our French index: