ménestrel
\me.nɛs.tʁɛl\
The verdict
“ménestrel” is uncommon French (frequency #66,144 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #66,144
- frequency rank, French
- 5,038
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Poète et musicien qui allait, au Moyen Âge, de châteaux en châteaux, chantant des vers composés par lui ou par d’autres.
Corpus desk
Index FR-menestrel · ménestrel · French
ménestrel · rank #66,144 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #66,144
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,038
- PHOTO-FINISH mémorise
Nearest frequency peer: mémorise (-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 « ménestrel »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- mycoses
mycoses
33,860 corpus weight
- médicinal
médicinal
33,859 corpus weight
- mémorise
mémorise
33,858 corpus weight
- ménestrel
ménestrel
33,857 corpus weight
- Mérida
Mérida
33,856 corpus weight
- métastase
métastase
33,855 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « ménestrel » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ménestrel |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \me.nɛs.tʁɛl\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #66,144 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « ménestrel » en français
Rare enough to double-check
ménestrel is uncommon French at frequency #66,144 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \me.nɛs.tʁɛl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
ménestrel doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is ménestrel, spelled M-É-N-E-S-T-R-E-L.
Definition
- 1Poète et musicien qui allait, au Moyen Âge, de châteaux en châteaux, chantant des vers composés par lui ou par d’autres.
- 2Poète, chanteur.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ménestrel appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Prieur Aymer, dit le templier, vous êtes un homme galant, docte dans l’étude de la beauté, et aussi expert qu’un ménestrel dans toutes les affaires qui concernent les arrêts d’amour.
Pourquoi restaurer les histoires vermoulues et poudreuses du moyen-âge, lorsque la chevalerie s’en est allée pour toujours, accompagnée des concerts de ses ménestrels, des enchantements de ses fées et de la gloire de ses preux ?
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ménestrel", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).