lavette

\la.vɛt\

/\la.vɛt\/ noun

The verdict

“lavette” is uncommon French (frequency #96,073 among 2,567 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#96,073
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Petit morceau de linge, torchon ou sorte de pinceau garni de gros fils dont on se sert pour laver la vaisselle.

Corpus desk

Index FR-lavette · lavette · French

lavette · rank #96,073 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #96,073
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH lausannoise

Nearest frequency peer: lausannoise (-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 « lavette »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for lavette
PropertyValue
Headwordlavette
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\la.vɛt\
Letters7
Frequency rank#96,073
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « lavette » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).lavettetombe 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: « lausannoise » (#96,072), « lavoro » (#96,074), « Lauri » (#96,071). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « lavette » est au #96,073. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

lavette is uncommon French at frequency #96,073 among 2,567 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \la.vɛt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for lavette, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is lavette, spelled L-A-V-E-T-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Petit morceau de linge, torchon ou sorte de pinceau garni de gros fils dont on se sert pour laver la vaisselle.
  2. 2
    Individu sans énergie, sans courage.
  3. 3
    Gant de toilette.
  4. 4
    Langue.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ce disant, il m’a tendu quatre doigts, mous comme une vieille lavette.
  2. Ce garçon est une vraie lavette.

Synonyms

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 "lavette"?
"lavette" is spelled L-A-V-E-T-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \la.vɛt\.
What does "lavette" mean?
As a noun, "lavette" means: Petit morceau de linge, torchon ou sorte de pinceau garni de gros fils dont on se sert pour laver la vaisselle.
How do you pronounce "lavette"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lavette" is \la.vɛt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lavette" come from?
"lavette" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list