libelle

\li.bɛl\

/\li.bɛl\/ noun

The verdict

“libelle” is uncommon French (frequency #72,493 among 2,567 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,493
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Placet, petit écrit.

Corpus desk

Index FR-libelle · libelle · French

libelle · rank #72,493 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,493
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH liard

Nearest frequency peer: liard (-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 « libelle »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for libelle
PropertyValue
Headwordlibelle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\li.bɛl\
Letters7
Frequency rank#72,493
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « libelle » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).libelletombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « liard » (#72,492), « libidineux » (#72,494), « libra » (#72,495). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « libelle » est au #72,493. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

libelle is uncommon French at frequency #72,493 among 2,567 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \li.bɛl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for libelle in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is libelle, spelled L-I-B-E-L-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Placet, petit écrit.
  2. 2
    Acte signifié par écrit.
  3. 3
    Écrit, ordinairement court, injurieux, diffamatoire ou calomnieux.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Faiseur de libelles.
  2. Libelle de divorce, acte par lequel un époux annonçait à l'autre qu'il divorçait.

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 "libelle"?
"libelle" is spelled L-I-B-E-L-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \li.bɛl\.
What does "libelle" mean?
As a noun, "libelle" means: Placet, petit écrit.
How do you pronounce "libelle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "libelle" is \li.bɛl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "libelle" come from?
"libelle" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "libelle", 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