Lorelei

\lɔ.ʁə.laj\

/\lɔ.ʁə.laj\/ name

The verdict

“Lorelei” is uncommon French (frequency #66,881 among 2,567 “L” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,881
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rocher de la banque du Rhin, où on racontait la légende d’une nixe qui chantait pour attirer les pêcheurs et les faisait noyer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-lorelei · Lorelei · French

Lorelei · rank #66,881 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,881
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH longboard

Nearest frequency peer: longboard (-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 « Lorelei »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Lorelei
PropertyValue
HeadwordLorelei
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\lɔ.ʁə.laj\
Letters7
Frequency rank#66,881
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « Lorelei » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).Loreleitombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « longboard » (#66,880), « louveteaux » (#66,882), « lucha » (#66,883). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « Lorelei » est au #66,881. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Lorelei is uncommon French at frequency #66,881 among 2,567 “L” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed \lɔ.ʁə.laj\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for Lorelei in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is Lorelei, spelled L-O-R-E-L-E-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rocher de la banque du Rhin, où on racontait la légende d’une nixe qui chantait pour attirer les pêcheurs et les faisait noyer.
  2. 2
    Nixe qui habitait sur le rocher qui porte son nom ; ou équivalent, poétiquement parlant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Lorelei, Lorelei Ne me lâche pas j’ai mon train qui déraille Lorelei, Lorelei Et je suis comme un cobaye qu’a sniffé toute sa paille

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 "Lorelei"?
"Lorelei" is spelled L-O-R-E-L-E-I. The IPA pronunciation is \lɔ.ʁə.laj\.
What does "Lorelei" mean?
As a proper noun, "Lorelei" means: Rocher de la banque du Rhin, où on racontait la légende d’une nixe qui chantait pour attirer les pêcheurs et les faisait noyer.
How do you pronounce "Lorelei"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Lorelei" is \lɔ.ʁə.laj\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Lorelei" come from?
"Lorelei" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Lorelei", 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