inférieur

/\ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\/ adj

Letters

9 characters

Frequency Rank

#3,764

in French word usage

Misspellings

13

tracked variants

Confusables

7

similar word pairs

inférieur is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui est placé au-dessous, en bas. Pronounced \ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\. It ranks #3,764 in French word frequency. Often confused with intérieur and ingénieur.

Key facts for inférieur
PropertyValue
Headwordinférieur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\
Letters9
Frequency rank#3,764
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of inférieur in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for inférieur is 9 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #3,764 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for inférieur, with forms such as "ifnérieur", "inferieur", and "infférieur". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 7 confusable-pair relationships, "intérieur", "ingénieur", "intérieure", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is inférieur, spelled I-N-F-É-R-I-E-U-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est placé au-dessous, en bas.
  2. 2
    Qualifiait les planètes qui, comparées à la terre, sont plus rapprochées du soleil.
  3. 3
    Qualifiait la partie d’un pays qui est la plus éloignée de la source d’un fleuve, ou la plus voisine de la mer ;
  4. 4
    Qui est au-dessous d’une personne ou d’une chose en rang, en dignité, en mérite, en forces, en valeur.
  5. 5
    Plus petit ou égal. Le symbole : ≤ ou ⩽. Note d’usage : En mathématiques ce mot comprend l’égalité, mais ce n’est pas le cas du langage courant et de l’informatique. Pour éviter la confusion possible, on peut dire inférieur ou égal.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ifnérieur,inferieur,infférieur,infréieur,inféireur,inféreiur,inférieru,inférieurr,infériuer,inférrieur,innférieur,inéfrieur,niférieur

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for inférieur

Misspelling Variants of "inférieur"

ifnérieur9inferieur9infférieur10infréieur9inféireur9inféreiur9inférieru9inférieurr10
Misspelling Variants of "inférieur"

Frequency rank: #3,764 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "inférieur"?
"inférieur" is spelled I-N-F-É-R-I-E-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\.
What does "inférieur" mean?
As an adj, "inférieur" means: Qui est placé au-dessous, en bas.
What words are commonly confused with "inférieur"?
"inférieur" is commonly confused with "intérieur", "ingénieur", "intérieure". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "inférieur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "inférieur" is \ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "inférieur" come from?
"inférieur" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter I in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.