incarcérer

\ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe\

/\ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe\/ verb

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

The verdict

“incarcérer” is uncommon French (frequency #62,362 among 3,561 “I” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,362
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Emprisonner.

Corpus desk

Index FR-incarcerer · incarcérer · French

incarcérer · rank #62,362 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,362
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH inaugurés

Nearest frequency peer: inaugurés (-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 « incarcérer »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for incarcérer
PropertyValue
Headwordincarcérer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe\
Letters10
Frequency rank#62,362
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « incarcérer » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).incarcérertombe 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: « inaugurés » (#62,361), « incitative » (#62,363), « inanité » (#62,360). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « incarcérer » est au #62,362. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

incarcérer is uncommon French at frequency #62,362 among 3,561 “I” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Emprisonner.".

Zero misspellings are on record for incarcérer in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, 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 best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is incarcérer, spelled I-N-C-A-R-C-É-R-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Emprisonner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La comtesse fit incarcérer le meurtrier et, après jugement, celui-ci fut pendu. L'exécution eut lieu le jour de Pourim.
  2. En septembre 2013, le proviseur Hafid Adnani, qui dirige le lycée français Bonaparte à Doha, doit précipitamment faire ses valises. Il a été incarcéré à la suite d'un différend avec la directrice financière de l’établissement […].

Synonyms

embastilleremprisonner

This word in other languages

incarcerate(English)encarcelar(Español)inhaftieren(Deutsch)

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 "incarcérer"?
"incarcérer" is spelled I-N-C-A-R-C-É-R-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe\.
What does "incarcérer" mean?
As a verb, "incarcérer" means: Emprisonner.
How do you pronounce "incarcérer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "incarcérer" is \ɛ̃.kaʁ.se.ʁe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "incarcérer" come from?
"incarcérer" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "incarcérer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

incitative#62,363innocenter#62,368instituées#62,370instruites#62,371

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list