langue maternelle
\lɑ̃ɡ ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\
The verdict
“langue maternelle” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Première langue qu’un enfant apprend auprès d’un membre ou non de sa famille, principalement sa mère.
Corpus desk
Index FR-langue-maternelle · langue maternelle · French
langue maternelle · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | langue maternelle |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \lɑ̃ɡ ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « langue maternelle » en français
Rare enough to double-check
langue maternelle is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \lɑ̃ɡ ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Première langue qu’un enfant apprend auprès d’un membre ou non de sa famille, principalement sa mère.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for langue maternelle in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is langue maternelle, spelled L-A-N-G-U-E- -M-A-T-E-R-N-E-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1Première langue qu’un enfant apprend auprès d’un membre ou non de sa famille, principalement sa mère.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how langue maternelle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
On a beau parler couramment une langue étrangère, c’est vers sa langue maternelle qu’on tend à se tourner pour nommer fruits et légumes. Bien que je sache parfaitement comment s’appelle tel fruit ou tel légume en anglais ou en français, c’est le créole que j’emploie pour en parler.
Il parlait et écrivait mieux le japonais que la plupart des enfants dont c’était la langue maternelle.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.