many a
\ˈmɛn.ɪ ə\
The verdict
“many a” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Maint.
Corpus desk
Index FR-many-a · many a · French
many a · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | many a |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ˈmɛn.ɪ ə\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « many a » en français
Rare enough to double-check
many a is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ˈmɛn.ɪ ə\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Maint.".
many a doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, 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 many a, spelled M-A-N-Y- -A.
Definition
- 1Maint.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how many a appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Many a dead sailor lies at rest below the waves. cf. Many dead sailors lie at rest below the waves.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.