loi

\lwa\

/\lwa\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“loi” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #300 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#300
frequency rank, French
3
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Règle, obligations écrites, prescrites ou tacites, auxquelles les personnes se doivent de se conformer.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

loi vs Lu
0% similar
loi vs LR
0% similar
loi vs LT
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for loi
PropertyValue
Headwordloi
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\lwa\
Letters3
Frequency rank#300
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “loi” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). loi lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for loi is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \lwa\. Corpus data places it at rank #300 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for loi in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Lu", "LR", "LT", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, 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 loi, spelled L-O-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Règle, obligations écrites, prescrites ou tacites, auxquelles les personnes se doivent de se conformer.
  2. 2
    Prescription de l’autorité législative (État, Union européenne, jurisprudence ou usages) qui règle, ordonne, permet ou défend.
  3. 3
    Toute règle qui est reçue dans le pays et qui y a force de loi, soit qu’elle ait rapport au gouvernement général, soit qu’elle fixe le droit des particuliers.
  4. 4
    Puissance ; autorité.
  5. 5
    Ensemble des règles de conduite émanant de Dieu ou de ses représentants sur la terre ; les livres sacrés recensant lesdites règles.
  6. 6
    Postulat ou énoncé vrai sous certaines conditions.
  7. 7
    Probabilité sur R associée à une variable aléatoire réelle, aussi appelée loi de probabilité.
  8. 8
    Ce qui règle l’ordre du monde physique.
  9. 9
    L’une des deux forces du monde, relative à l’ordre par opposition au chaos, dans certaines fictions fantastiques.

Synonyms

législationréglement

This word in other languages

act(English)ley(Español)Gesetz(Deutsch)

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 "loi"?
"loi" is spelled L-O-I. The IPA pronunciation is \lwa\.
What does "loi" mean?
As a noun, "loi" means: Règle, obligations écrites, prescrites ou tacites, auxquelles les personnes se doivent de se conformer.
What words are commonly confused with "loi"?
"loi" is commonly confused with "Lu", "LR", "LT". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "loi"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "loi" is \lwa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "loi" come from?
"loi" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “loi”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is L-O-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \lwa\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “Lu” - see the side-by-side comparison. loi vs Lu
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list