métathèse
\me.ta.tɛz\
The verdict
“métathèse” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Métaplasme qui consiste dans l’inversion de deux lettres ou phonèmes.
Corpus desk
Index FR-metathese · métathèse · French
métathèse · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | métathèse |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \me.ta.tɛz\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « métathèse » en français
Rare enough to double-check
métathèse is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \me.ta.tɛz\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for métathèse in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is métathèse, spelled M-É-T-A-T-H-È-S-E.
Definition
- 1Métaplasme qui consiste dans l’inversion de deux lettres ou phonèmes.
- 2Réaction de double déplacement au cours de laquelle deux composés échangent leurs ions ou groupes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how métathèse appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La métathèse désigne l’échange de deux lettres, ainsi le nom ancien Bleinliuet donne Brélivet et sa variante Berlivet ; Melénec admet pour variante Ménélec.
Il [Gide] est agacé par les contrepèteries et métathèses du premier [Fargue] : la récivraie n’est pas proque, par exemple, ou le Canif de Bagdad.
Synonyms
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.