lessive

/\lɛ.siv\/ noun

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#15,668

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

3

similar word pairs

lessive is aFrenchnoun. It means: Eau chaude que l’on verse sur du linge à blanchir, qui est entassé dans un cuvier et sur lequel on a mis un lit de soude, de potasse ou de cendre de bois. Pronounced \lɛ.siv\. Often confused with lessives and Leslie.

Key facts for lessive
PropertyValue
Headwordlessive
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\lɛ.siv\
Letters7
Frequency rank#15,668
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of lessive in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for lessive is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \lɛ.siv\. Corpus data places it at rank #15,668 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for lessive, with forms such as "elssive", "lesisve", and "lesive". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "lessives", "Leslie", "Lessing", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is lessive, spelled L-E-S-S-I-V-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Eau chaude que l’on verse sur du linge à blanchir, qui est entassé dans un cuvier et sur lequel on a mis un lit de soude, de potasse ou de cendre de bois.
  2. 2
    Action de laver, de nettoyer le linge par des procédés chimiques ou mécaniques.
  3. 3
    Linge sale qui doit être lessivé, qui a été lavé.
  4. 4
    Toute sorte d’eau détersive, rendue telle par quelque matière convenable.
  5. 5
    Poudre ou liquide détergente que l'on dissout dans l'eau pour laver le linge.
  6. 6
    Nettoyage, action de débarrasser un organisme industriel, commercial, administratif, etc., des gens qui en compromettent le bon fonctionnement.
  7. 7
    Solution aqueuse alcaline.
  8. 8
    Opération qui consiste à verser plusieurs fois de l’eau chaude ou froide sur des matières terreuses ou autres pour en extraire les parties solubles qu’elles contiennent.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: elssive,lesisve,lesive,lessiev,lessivve,lessvie,llessive,lsesive

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for lessive

Misspelling Variants of "lessive"

elssive7lesisve7lesive6lessiev7lessivve8lessvie7llessive8lsesive7
Misspelling Variants of "lessive"

Frequency rank: #15,668 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lessive"?
"lessive" is spelled L-E-S-S-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is \lɛ.siv\.
What does "lessive" mean?
As a noun, "lessive" means: Eau chaude que l’on verse sur du linge à blanchir, qui est entassé dans un cuvier et sur lequel on a mis un lit de soude, de potasse ou de cendre de bois.
What words are commonly confused with "lessive"?
"lessive" is commonly confused with "lessives", "Leslie", "Lessing". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lessive"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lessive" is \lɛ.siv\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lessive" come from?
"lessive" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter L in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.