ligature

French, noun

ligature is spelled L-I-G-A-T-U-R-E (8 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written French, the 46,078th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ligature is a French feminine noun meaning “a tie; the action of tying” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, ligaturé is a different word: “past participle of ligaturer”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Nœud de fil, de soie, etc., avec lequel on serre un vaisseau pour prévenir ou arrêter l’écoulement du sang”.

What does ligature mean in English?

noun

1
femininea tie; the action of tying
2
femininea binding, notably in horticulture
3
feminineligature; a character that combines multiple letters; logotype

verb

as ligaturé

1
past participle of ligaturer

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Nœud de fil, de soie, etc., avec lequel on serre un vaisseau pour prévenir ou arrêter l’écoulement du sang. 2. Action, manière de placer ce nœud. 3. Lien de caoutchouc avec lequel on serre la partie supérieure du bras pour faire une piqûre intraveineuse ou une saignée. 4. Lettres liées ensemble et quelquefois de mots entiers dont toutes les lettres sont unies les unes aux autres d’un seul trait.

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of ligature

ligatures plural
ligaturée feminine
ligaturés masculine plural
ligaturées feminine plural

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to ligature

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is ligature in French?

ligature appears about once in every 2 million words in written French.

ligature0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Frenchmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).