messaline

\me.sa.lin\

/\me.sa.lin\/ noun

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

The verdict

“messaline” is uncommon French (frequency #84,068 among 202,672 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,068
frequency rank, French
202,672
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Femme particulièrement dévergondée, caractérisée par un appétit de luxe, une soif de plaisir et un esprit de lucre immodérés et ne reculant pas devant le meurtre pour parvenir à ses fins.

Key facts for messaline
PropertyValue
Headwordmessaline
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\me.sa.lin\
Letters9
Frequency rank#84,068
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “messaline” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). messaline lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

messaline is uncommon French at frequency #84,068 among 202,672 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \me.sa.lin\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Femme particulièrement dévergondée, caractérisée par un appétit de luxe, une soif de plaisir et un esprit de lucre immodérés et ne reculant pas devant le meurtre pour parvenir à ses fins.".

messaline doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is messaline, spelled M-E-S-S-A-L-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femme particulièrement dévergondée, caractérisée par un appétit de luxe, une soif de plaisir et un esprit de lucre immodérés et ne reculant pas devant le meurtre pour parvenir à ses fins.

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 "messaline"?
"messaline" is spelled M-E-S-S-A-L-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \me.sa.lin\.
What does "messaline" mean?
As a noun, "messaline" means: Femme particulièrement dévergondée, caractérisée par un appétit de luxe, une soif de plaisir et un esprit de lucre immodérés et ne reculant pas devant le meurtre pour parvenir à ses fins.
How do you pronounce "messaline"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "messaline" is \me.sa.lin\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "messaline" come from?
"messaline" 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.

Using “messaline”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is M-E-S-S-A-L-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \me.sa.lin\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Other uncommon French words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list