kaolin

\ka.ɔ.lɛ̃\

/\ka.ɔ.lɛ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“kaolin” is uncommon French (frequency #58,711 among 737 “K” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,711
frequency rank, French
737
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Argile blanche, friable et réfractaire, composée principalement de kaolinite, de silicate d’aluminium qui se forment par altération chimique des feldspaths des granites.

Corpus desk

Index FR-kaolin · kaolin · French

kaolin · rank #58,711 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,711
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 737
  • PHOTO-FINISH Jörg

Nearest frequency peer: Jörg (-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 « kaolin »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for kaolin
PropertyValue
Headwordkaolin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ka.ɔ.lɛ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#58,711
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « kaolin » en français

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

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « Jörg » (#58,710), « karan » (#58,713), « Kirill » (#58,715). Parmi 737 lemmes en « K », « kaolin » est au #58,711. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kaolin is uncommon French at frequency #58,711 among 737 “K” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ka.ɔ.lɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Argile blanche, friable et réfractaire, composée principalement de kaolinite, de silicate d’aluminium qui se forment par altération chimique des feldspaths des granites.".

kaolin doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is kaolin, spelled K-A-O-L-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Argile blanche, friable et réfractaire, composée principalement de kaolinite, de silicate d’aluminium qui se forment par altération chimique des feldspaths des granites.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La porcelaine, cette matière céramique la plus parfaite, résulte de la liaison à une température très élevée, de l’infusible kaolin et du fusible feldspath, en une masse homogène.
  2. Symb. Les cheveux endiablés, boule de feu renversée, coulent comme une pelletée d’or jaillie d'une jarre de kaolin sertie de deux aigues marines qui fixent Dieu comme des yeux.

This word in other languages

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 "kaolin"?
"kaolin" is spelled K-A-O-L-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ka.ɔ.lɛ̃\.
What does "kaolin" mean?
As a noun, "kaolin" means: Argile blanche, friable et réfractaire, composée principalement de kaolinite, de silicate d’aluminium qui se forment par altération chimique des feldspaths des granites.
How do you pronounce "kaolin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kaolin" is \ka.ɔ.lɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "kaolin" come from?
"kaolin" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "kaolin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list