investigateur

\ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.ɡa.tœʁ\

/\ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.ɡa.tœʁ\/ adj

The verdict

“investigateur” is uncommon French (frequency #68,372 among 3,561 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,372
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui fait des recherches suivies sur quelque objet, qui examine attentivement et systématiquement.

Corpus desk

Index FR-investigateur · investigateur · French

investigateur · rank #68,372 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,372
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH intitulait

Nearest frequency peer: intitulait (-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 « investigateur »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for investigateur
PropertyValue
Headwordinvestigateur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.ɡa.tœʁ\
Letters13
Frequency rank#68,372
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « investigateur » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.investigateurtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « intitulait » (#68,371), « investira » (#68,373), « internationalistes » (#68,370). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « investigateur » est au #68,372. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

investigateur is uncommon French at frequency #68,372 among 3,561 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.ɡa.tœʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui fait des recherches suivies sur quelque objet, qui examine attentivement et systématiquement.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for investigateur, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, 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 investigateur, spelled I-N-V-E-S-T-I-G-A-T-E-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui fait des recherches suivies sur quelque objet, qui examine attentivement et systématiquement.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Je pus voir alors un homme de taille médiocre, […], et qui, jetant un regard investigateur dans toute l'étendue de la circonférence éclairée par le cierge, parut complètement rassuré par cet examen.
  2. Arrivé sur la lisière de la forêt il s’arrêta, puis après avoir jeté autour de lui un regard investigateur, il imita le hennissement du cheval ….

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 "investigateur"?
"investigateur" is spelled I-N-V-E-S-T-I-G-A-T-E-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.ɡa.tœʁ\.
What does "investigateur" mean?
As an adjective, "investigateur" means: Qui fait des recherches suivies sur quelque objet, qui examine attentivement et systématiquement.
How do you pronounce "investigateur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "investigateur" is \ɛ̃.vɛs.ti.ɡa.tœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "investigateur" come from?
"investigateur" 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 "investigateur", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list