levain

/\lə.vɛ̃\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#34,162

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

13

similar word pairs

levain is aFrenchnoun. It means: Morceau de pâte aigrie qui, mêlée à la pâte dont on veut faire du pain, sert à la faire lever, à la faire fermenter. Pronounced \lə.vɛ̃\. Often confused with levi and levis.

Key facts for levain
PropertyValue
Headwordlevain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\lə.vɛ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#34,162
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for levain is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \lə.vɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #34,162 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 3 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 levain, with forms such as "elvain", "leavin", and "levainn". 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 13 confusable-pair relationships, "levi", "levis", "levant", and more, 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 levain, spelled L-E-V-A-I-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Morceau de pâte aigrie qui, mêlée à la pâte dont on veut faire du pain, sert à la faire lever, à la faire fermenter.
  2. 2
    Substance capable de produire une fermentation interne dans le corps avec lequel on l’a mêlé et d’y exciter un gonflement.
  3. 3
    Germes de certaines passions violentes.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: elvain,leavin,levainn,levani,levian,levvain,llevain,lveain

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for levain

Misspelling Variants of "levain"

elvain6leavin6levainn7levani6levian6levvain7llevain7lveain6
Misspelling Variants of "levain"

Frequency rank: #34,162 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "levain"?
"levain" is spelled L-E-V-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \lə.vɛ̃\.
What does "levain" mean?
As a noun, "levain" means: Morceau de pâte aigrie qui, mêlée à la pâte dont on veut faire du pain, sert à la faire lever, à la faire fermenter.
What words are commonly confused with "levain"?
"levain" is commonly confused with "levi", "levis", "levant". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "levain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "levain" is \lə.vɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "levain" come from?
"levain" 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.