machiniste

\ma.ʃi.nist\

/\ma.ʃi.nist\/ noun

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

The verdict

“machiniste” is uncommon French (frequency #51,588 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,588
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Celui ou celle qui place ou déplace des décors, des machines de théâtre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-machiniste · machiniste · French

machiniste · rank #51,588 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,588
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH macaroni

Nearest frequency peer: macaroni (-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 « machiniste »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for machiniste
PropertyValue
Headwordmachiniste
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ma.ʃi.nist\
Letters10
Frequency rank#51,588
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « machiniste » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.machinistetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « macaroni » (#51,587), « macroéconomiques » (#51,589), « légataire » (#51,586). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « machiniste » est au #51,588. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

machiniste is uncommon French at frequency #51,588 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ma.ʃi.nist\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for machiniste, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is machiniste, spelled M-A-C-H-I-N-I-S-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Celui ou celle qui place ou déplace des décors, des machines de théâtre.
  2. 2
    Technicien ou technicienne responsable des systèmes de fixation de la caméra et des déplacements d’appareils effectués avec ces systèmes.
  3. 3
    Conducteur d’une machine quelle qu’elle soit ; conducteur d’engins de travaux publics.
  4. 4
    Dans le langage de l’administration, conducteur d’un autobus, d’un tramway, etc.
  5. 5
    ou Conducteur d'une locomotive électrique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les machinistes prenaient leurs postes, les figurants se massaient en reculant vers le troisième plan, et le régisseur gesticulait pour accélérer la manoeuvre.
  2. En 1759 les catégories de décorateur et de machiniste semblent confondues.

Synonyms

machino

This word in other languages

grip(English)tramoyista(Español)Bühnenarbeiter(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 "machiniste"?
"machiniste" is spelled M-A-C-H-I-N-I-S-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ma.ʃi.nist\.
What does "machiniste" mean?
As a noun, "machiniste" means: Celui ou celle qui place ou déplace des décors, des machines de théâtre.
How do you pronounce "machiniste"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "machiniste" is \ma.ʃi.nist\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "machiniste" come from?
"machiniste" 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 "machiniste", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Magdeleine#51,591malfaisant#51,593littorales#51,579maîtrisait#51,603

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list