insecte

/\ɛ̃.sɛkt\/ noun

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#11,985

in French word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

19

similar word pairs

insecte is aFrenchnoun. It means: Petit animal invertébré, arthropode dont l'adulte est constitué de trois parties (tête, thorax, abdomen) protégées par un exosquelette de chitine et possédant au moins une paire d’yeux composés, un... Pronounced \ɛ̃.sɛkt\. Often confused with INSEE and insère.

Key facts for insecte
PropertyValue
Headwordinsecte
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ̃.sɛkt\
Letters7
Frequency rank#11,985
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for insecte is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛ̃.sɛkt\. Corpus data places it at rank #11,985 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for insecte, with forms such as "inescte", "innsecte", and "inscete". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "INSEE", "insère", "insert", 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 insecte, spelled I-N-S-E-C-T-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Petit animal invertébré, arthropode dont l'adulte est constitué de trois parties (tête, thorax, abdomen) protégées par un exosquelette de chitine et possédant au moins une paire d’yeux composés, une paire d’antennes, trois paires de pattes articulées et deux paires d’ailes parfois atrophiées.
  2. 2
    Imago de cet animal, c'est-à-dire l'adulte anciennement considéré comme linsecte parfait.
  3. 3
    (Par extension) (familier) Toutes espèces d'arthropodes, incluant les araignées, les tiques, les mille-pattes, les collemboles, etc... Note : Cet usage est considéré comme fautif par les biologistes.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: inescte,innsecte,inscete,inseccte,insecet,insectte,insetce,inssecte,isnecte,nisecte

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for insecte

Misspelling Variants of "insecte"

inescte7innsecte8inscete7inseccte8insecet7insectte8insetce7inssecte8
Misspelling Variants of "insecte"

Frequency rank: #11,985 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "insecte"?
"insecte" is spelled I-N-S-E-C-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.sɛkt\.
What does "insecte" mean?
As a noun, "insecte" means: Petit animal invertébré, arthropode dont l'adulte est constitué de trois parties (tête, thorax, abdomen) protégées par un exosquelette de chitine et possédant au moins une paire d’yeux composés, un...
What words are commonly confused with "insecte"?
"insecte" is commonly confused with "INSEE", "insère", "insert". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "insecte"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "insecte" is \ɛ̃.sɛkt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "insecte" come from?
"insecte" 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:

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