impotent

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“impotent” is uncommon French (frequency #86,813 among 142,603 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,813
frequency rank, French
142,603
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est infirme, privé du mouvement, privé de l’usage d’un bras, d’une jambe, etc., soit par vice de nature, soit par accident.

Key facts for impotent
PropertyValue
Headwordimpotent
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
Letters8
Frequency rank#86,813
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “impotent” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). impotent lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

impotent is uncommon French at frequency #86,813 among 142,603 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui est infirme, privé du mouvement, privé de l’usage d’un bras, d’une jambe, etc., soit par vice de nature, soit par accident.".

impotent has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is impotent, spelled I-M-P-O-T-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est infirme, privé du mouvement, privé de l’usage d’un bras, d’une jambe, etc., soit par vice de nature, soit par accident.

This word in other languages

infirm(English)impotente(Español)

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 "impotent"?
"impotent" is spelled I-M-P-O-T-E-N-T.
What does "impotent" mean?
As an adjective, "impotent" means: Qui est infirme, privé du mouvement, privé de l’usage d’un bras, d’une jambe, etc., soit par vice de nature, soit par accident.
What language does "impotent" come from?
"impotent" 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.

Using “impotent”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is I-M-P-O-T-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Other uncommon French words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list