incentive

\ɛ̃.sɑ̃.tiv\

/\ɛ̃.sɑ̃.tiv\/ noun

The verdict

“incentive” is uncommon French (frequency #92,854 among 3,561 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,854
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Technique utilisée pour motiver soit le personnel d’une entreprise, soit sa clientèle, par des moyens comme des cadeaux, des jeux, des séminaires ou voyages, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-incentive · incentive · French

incentive · rank #92,854 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,854
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH incombera

Nearest frequency peer: incombera (+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 « incentive »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for incentive
PropertyValue
Headwordincentive
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ̃.sɑ̃.tiv\
Letters9
Frequency rank#92,854
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « incentive » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).incentivetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « incombera » (#92,855), « immortalisés » (#92,852), « incongrus » (#92,856). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « incentive » est au #92,854. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

incentive is uncommon French at frequency #92,854 among 3,561 “I” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɛ̃.sɑ̃.tiv\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Technique utilisée pour motiver soit le personnel d’une entreprise, soit sa clientèle, par des moyens comme des cadeaux, des jeux, des séminaires ou voyages, etc.".

incentive has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is incentive, spelled I-N-C-E-N-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Technique utilisée pour motiver soit le personnel d’une entreprise, soit sa clientèle, par des moyens comme des cadeaux, des jeux, des séminaires ou voyages, etc.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Lorsqu’il s’adresse aux commerciaux de la distribution interne ou externe, un incentive est une prime en nature (cadeaux, voyages, etc.) ou financière donnée aux commerciaux ou distributeurs ayant atteint un objectif de vente donné.
  2. Ouvert hiver comme été, le resort se prête à l’organisation de séminaires, de team buildings et d’incentives grâce à deux salles de réunions tout équipées pouvant accueillir jusqu’à 63 personnes en plénière.

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 "incentive"?
"incentive" is spelled I-N-C-E-N-T-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.sɑ̃.tiv\.
What does "incentive" mean?
As a noun, "incentive" means: Technique utilisée pour motiver soit le personnel d’une entreprise, soit sa clientèle, par des moyens comme des cadeaux, des jeux, des séminaires ou voyages, etc.
How do you pronounce "incentive"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "incentive" is \ɛ̃.sɑ̃.tiv\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "incentive" come from?
"incentive" 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 "incentive", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list