matriarche

\mat.ʁi.jaʁʃ\

/\mat.ʁi.jaʁʃ\/ noun

The verdict

“matriarche” is uncommon French (frequency #81,334 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,334
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Femelle dominante d'une société animale.

Corpus desk

Index FR-matriarche · matriarche · French

matriarche · rank #81,334 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,334
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH matraquer

Nearest frequency peer: matraquer (-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 « matriarche »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for matriarche
PropertyValue
Headwordmatriarche
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mat.ʁi.jaʁʃ\
Letters10
Frequency rank#81,334
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « matriarche » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).matriarchetombe 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: « matraquer » (#81,333), « Matadi » (#81,331), « Mediaset » (#81,337). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « matriarche » est au #81,334. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

matriarche is uncommon French at frequency #81,334 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \mat.ʁi.jaʁʃ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for matriarche, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is matriarche, spelled M-A-T-R-I-A-R-C-H-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femelle dominante d'une société animale.
  2. 2
    Femme dominante dans une famille, une tribu, une ethnie ou une religion.
  3. 3
    Cheffe ou fondatrice d'une entreprise.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les jeunes éléphants mâles sont exclus de la harde natale vers l'âge de 12 ans, les femelles restent très solidaires dans le groupe et certaines sont appelées un jour à devenir matriarche.
  2. Des matriarches, des chefs et des membres de la Première Nation Gitxsan ont empêché des travailleurs sociaux de la Colombie-Britannique de retirer l’un des enfants de la communauté samedi dernier.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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 "matriarche"?
"matriarche" is spelled M-A-T-R-I-A-R-C-H-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mat.ʁi.jaʁʃ\.
What does "matriarche" mean?
As a noun, "matriarche" means: Femelle dominante d'une société animale.
How do you pronounce "matriarche"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "matriarche" is \mat.ʁi.jaʁʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "matriarche" come from?
"matriarche" 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 "matriarche", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list