menotte

\mə.nɔt\

/\mə.nɔt\/ noun

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

The verdict

“menotte” is uncommon French (frequency #85,011 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,011
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Main d’un enfant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-menotte · menotte · French

menotte · rank #85,011 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,011
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH merlu

Nearest frequency peer: merlu (+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 « menotte »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for menotte
PropertyValue
Headwordmenotte
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mə.nɔt\
Letters7
Frequency rank#85,011
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « menotte » en français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « merlu » (#85,012), « meant » (#85,009), « messa » (#85,013). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « menotte » est au #85,011. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

menotte is uncommon French at frequency #85,011 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \mə.nɔt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

menotte doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is menotte, spelled M-E-N-O-T-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Main d’un enfant.
  2. 2
    Lien de fer ou de corde qu’on met aux poignets d’un prisonnier, d’un malfaiteur, pour lui ôter l’usage des mains. → voir menottes
  3. 3
    Demi-anneau en fer, dont la partie non fermée est traversée par un boulon à tête et écrou, employé en carrosserie soit comme intermédiaire entre la caisse et le palonnier, soit comme partie de la suspension des véhicules.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La demoiselle couvrait de baisers les menottes brûlées et pleurait aussi ; sur son visage blanc, de grosses larmes claires coulaient qu’elle n’essayait point de retenir.
  2. Quand ce mot lui fut remis, quelques instants après, Ulrich se fit l’effet d’un enfant que l’on congédie en lui glissant dans la menotte un morceau de chocolat.

Synonyms

braceletscabrioletgourmette

This word in other languages

handcuffs(English)esposas(Español)Händchen(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 "menotte"?
"menotte" is spelled M-E-N-O-T-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mə.nɔt\.
What does "menotte" mean?
As a noun, "menotte" means: Main d’un enfant.
How do you pronounce "menotte"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "menotte" is \mə.nɔt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "menotte" come from?
"menotte" 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 "menotte", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mitzvah#85,024magnets#84,991monarch#85,031lâchais#84,985

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list