initiale
French, noun/i.ni.sjal/
initiale is spelled I-N-I-T-I-A-L-E (8 letters) and appears 13 times per million words in written French, the 5,331st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Initiale is a French feminine noun meaning “initial (first letter of a word, of a name, of a first name)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a feminine singular of initial. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Première lettre d’un mot, d’un nom, d’un prénom”.
What does initiale mean in English?
noun
- 1
feminineinitial (first letter of a word, of a name, of a first name)
Les initiales de son nom sont PQ.
- 2
feminineinitial, onset (first consonantal phoneme in a syllable. Often used in the study of Chinese languages)
adjective
- 1
femininefeminine singular of initial
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Première lettre d’un mot, d’un nom, d’un prénom. 2. Premier phonème consonantique dans une syllabe. Souvent utilisé dans l’étude des langues chinoises. 3. Premier élément d’un mot.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of initiale
- initiales plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce initiale?
- /i.ni.sjal/
- \i.ni.sjal\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to initiale
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is initiale in French?
initiale appears 13 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).