liminaire
\li.mi.nɛʁ\
The verdict
“liminaire” is uncommon French (frequency #57,385 among 2,567 “L” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,385
- frequency rank, French
- 2,567
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui sert de préface à un livre, à un prologue, à une épître, à un discours.
Corpus desk
Index FR-liminaire · liminaire · French
liminaire · rank #57,385 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,385
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,567
- PHOTO-FINISH libéraliser
Nearest frequency peer: libéraliser (-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 « liminaire »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- Letellier
Letellier
42,620 corpus weight
- Leuven
Leuven
42,618 corpus weight
- libéraliser
libéraliser
42,617 corpus weight
- liminaire
liminaire
42,616 corpus weight
- limiterait
limiterait
42,615 corpus weight
- lituanienne
lituanienne
42,611 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « liminaire » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | liminaire |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \li.mi.nɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #57,385 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « liminaire » en français
Rare enough to double-check
liminaire is uncommon French at frequency #57,385 among 2,567 “L” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \li.mi.nɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for liminaire, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is liminaire, spelled L-I-M-I-N-A-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1Qui sert de préface à un livre, à un prologue, à une épître, à un discours.
- 2Initial, préalable, prélude.
- 3Qui est au niveau du seuil de perception (c.-à-d. tout juste perceptible) → voir subliminal et → voir liminal.
- 4Situé au tout début.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how liminaire appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La réponse du mufti doit commencer par la formule liminaire religieuse courante, la basmala, suivie d’une formule d’action de grâces.
La deuxième leçon, liminaire, du Towazugatari, est de nous désapprendre les réflexes conditionnés de la pensée alternative […]
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 "liminaire"?
What does "liminaire" mean?
How do you pronounce "liminaire"?
What language does "liminaire" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "liminaire", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).