inconnu

\ɛ̃.kɔ.ny\

/\ɛ̃.kɔ.ny\/ adj

The verdict

“inconnu” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #3,267. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,267
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Que l’on ne connaît pas, ignoré.

Corpus desk

Index FR-inconnu · inconnu · French

inconnu · rank #3,267 · 8 variants · 4 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,267
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH immigration

Nearest frequency peer: immigration (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « inconnu »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « inconnu » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

inconnu vs inconnue
88% similar
inconnu vs inconnus
88% similar
inconnu vs inconnues
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for inconnu
PropertyValue
Headwordinconnu
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.kɔ.ny\
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,267
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « inconnu »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).inconnuse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « immigration » (#3,266), « innovation » (#3,268), « humeur » (#3,265). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « inconnu » est au #3,267. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around inconnu (IPA \ɛ̃.kɔ.ny\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,267 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for inconnu, with forms such as "icnonnu", "incconnu", and "incnonu". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "inconnue", "inconnus", "inconnues", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is inconnu, spelled I-N-C-O-N-N-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Que l’on ne connaît pas, ignoré.
  2. 2
    Qu’on n’a pas encore éprouvé, ressenti.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Là, j’ai souri à des femmes inconnues, j’ai entendu siffler le merle prisonnier, j’ai respiré la saine odeur du persil qu’on hache et j’ai vu luire les carottes rouges sous les fontaines.
  2. Tout s’est modernisé, et il y a de tout, sauf des gendarmes et des prisons, car le crime est encore inconnu.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • icnonnu
  • incconnu
  • incnonu
  • inconu
  • inconun
  • innconnu
  • inocnnu
  • niconnu

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of inconnu - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

icnonnu2incconnu1incnonu2inconu1inconun2innconnu1inocnnu2niconnu2
Edit distance from "inconnu"

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 "inconnu"?
"inconnu" is spelled I-N-C-O-N-N-U. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.kɔ.ny\.
What does "inconnu" mean?
As an adjective, "inconnu" means: Que l’on ne connaît pas, ignoré.
What words are commonly confused with "inconnu"?
"inconnu" is commonly confused with "inconnue", "inconnus", "inconnues". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "inconnu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "inconnu" is \ɛ̃.kɔ.ny\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "inconnu" come from?
"inconnu" 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 "inconnu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list