-ist

\ɪst\

/\ɪst\/ suffix

The verdict

“-ist” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
4
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - -iste, suffixe des substantifs masculins, servant à former un nom correspondant à une profession ou une activité. Suffixe des substantifs masculins avec des racines de langue étrangère des personne...

Corpus desk

Index FR-ist · -ist · French

-ist · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "-" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for -ist
PropertyValue
Headword-ist
LanguageFrench
Part of speechSuffix
IPA\ɪst\
Letters4
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « -ist » en français

-istreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

-ist is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed \ɪst\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "-iste, suffixe des substantifs masculins, servant à former un nom correspondant à une profession ou une activité. Suffixe des substantifs masculins avec des racines de langue étrangère des personne...".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for -ist, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is -ist, spelled --I-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    -iste, suffixe des substantifs masculins, servant à former un nom correspondant à une profession ou une activité. Suffixe des substantifs masculins avec des racines de langue étrangère des personnes adeptes d’une idéologie ou d’une théorie.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "-ist"?
"-ist" is spelled --I-S-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ɪst\.
What does "-ist" mean?
As a suffix, "-ist" means: -iste, suffixe des substantifs masculins, servant à former un nom correspondant à une profession ou une activité. Suffixe des substantifs masculins avec des racines de langue étrangère des personne...
How do you pronounce "-ist"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "-ist" is \ɪst\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "-ist" come from?
"-ist" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list