minou

\mi.nu\

/\mi.nu\/ noun

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

The verdict

“minou” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #26,441. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#26,441
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Petit chat.

Corpus desk

Index FR-minou · minou · French

minou · rank #26,441 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #26,441
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH miraculeux

Nearest frequency peer: miraculeux (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « minou »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « minou » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

minou vs mou
60% similar
minou vs mio
60% similar
minou vs mono
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for minou
PropertyValue
Headwordminou
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mi.nu\
Letters5
Frequency rank#26,441
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « minou »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).minouse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « miraculeux » (#26,442), « minables » (#26,439), « mixer » (#26,443). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « minou » est au #26,441. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around minou (IPA \mi.nu\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #26,441 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for minou, with forms such as "imnou", "minnou", and "minuo". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mou", "mio", "mono", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is minou, spelled M-I-N-O-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Petit chat.
  2. 2
    Chérie, chéri.
  3. 3
    Duvet de laine, de coton, ou flocons de poussières qui se loge sous les meubles.
  4. 4
    Au jeu de cartes, le ou les jokers.
  5. 5
    Organe génital féminin.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mon vieux minou, faut absolument trouver le moyen de décamper de ce sale trou. Au train dont tu vas, notre provision de lait ne durera pas longtemps…
  2. Quand le chef libéral dit qu'il veut financer un tunnel en Colombie-Britannique, on se frotte les mains dans les coulisses caquistes en pensant à l'embarras dans lequel il sera sur le 3e lien à Québec. Pourquoi ce qui est bon pour pitou ne serait pas bon pour minou?, se dit-on.

Synonyms

chatonchatounetchatteminetminouchetminouchonmistigripantoufleminoussemenonmouton

This word in other languages

kitten(English)gatito(Español)Miezekatze(Deutsch)boceta(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • imnou
  • minnou
  • minuo
  • mionu
  • mminou
  • mniou

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of minou - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

imnou2minnou1minuo2mionu2mminou1mniou2
Edit distance from "minou"

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 "minou"?
"minou" is spelled M-I-N-O-U. The IPA pronunciation is \mi.nu\.
What does "minou" mean?
As a noun, "minou" means: Petit chat.
What words are commonly confused with "minou"?
"minou" is commonly confused with "mou", "mio", "mono". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "minou"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "minou" is \mi.nu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "minou" come from?
"minou" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "minou", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mixer#26,443muros#26,452lodge#26,428Leduc#26,424

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Millau6 variantsmalt6 variantsPaule6 variantsJoanne6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list