immémorial

\i.me.mɔ.ʁjal\

/\i.me.mɔ.ʁjal\/ adj

The verdict

“immémorial” is uncommon French (frequency #88,744 among 3,561 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,744
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Antérieur au souvenir direct des personnes encore vivantes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-immemorial · immémorial · French

immémorial · rank #88,744 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,744
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH imites

Nearest frequency peer: imites (-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 « immémorial »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for immémorial
PropertyValue
Headwordimmémorial
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\i.me.mɔ.ʁjal\
Letters10
Frequency rank#88,744
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « immémorial » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).immémorialtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « imites » (#88,743), « importes » (#88,745), « imagées » (#88,742). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « immémorial » est au #88,744. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

immémorial is uncommon French at frequency #88,744 among 3,561 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \i.me.mɔ.ʁjal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for immémorial, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is immémorial, spelled I-M-M-É-M-O-R-I-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Antérieur au souvenir direct des personnes encore vivantes.
  2. 2
    Qui est si ancien qu’on n’en sait pas l’origine, qu’il n’en reste aucune mémoire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Possession immémoriale, usage immémorial, tradition immémoriale, temps immémorial.
  2. Ce combat, d’une immémoriale antiquité, acte de justice cruelle et bouffonne, offre un spectacle dont les naturels du pays sont très friands.

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 "immémorial"?
"immémorial" is spelled I-M-M-É-M-O-R-I-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \i.me.mɔ.ʁjal\.
What does "immémorial" mean?
As an adjective, "immémorial" means: Antérieur au souvenir direct des personnes encore vivantes.
How do you pronounce "immémorial"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "immémorial" is \i.me.mɔ.ʁjal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "immémorial" come from?
"immémorial" 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 "immémorial", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list