mirliton

\miʁ.li.tɔ̃\

/\miʁ.li.tɔ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“mirliton” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Membrane vibrante recouvrant un trou et mise en branle par un souffle ou une vibration sonore, produisant un son nasillard. → voir kazoo

Key facts for mirliton
PropertyValue
Headwordmirliton
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\miʁ.li.tɔ̃\
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mirliton” sits in French frequency

mirliton falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for mirliton is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \miʁ.li.tɔ̃\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for mirliton in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is mirliton, spelled M-I-R-L-I-T-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Membrane vibrante recouvrant un trou et mise en branle par un souffle ou une vibration sonore, produisant un son nasillard. → voir kazoo
  2. 2
    Sorte de flûte très simple, formée d’un roseau bouché par les deux bouts avec une pelure d’oignon, un morceau de baudruche, du papier etc. En chantonnant dans le tube, on fait vibrer cette membrane qui transforme la voix en sons nasillards.
  3. 3
    Accessoire de cotillon consistant en un sifflet encastré dans un tube de carton décoré dans lequel on souffle et au bout duquel se déroule alors d’un coup et avec un couinement une partie supplémentaire; également appelé langue de belle-mère.
  4. 4
    Feuilleté à la crème saupoudré de sucre, de forme allongée et originaire de Rouen.
  5. 5
    Coiffure militaire rigide et conique en feutre, avec une bande de tissu roulée autour en spirale, légèrement différente du shako, portée autrefois par certaines unités de hussards.
  6. 6
    Panneau de signalisation ferroviaire, utilisé à la SNCF. Il signale que l’on approche d’un panneau. Il doit son nom à son aspect.
  7. 7
    Ancienne coiffure en vogue au XVIII^(ème) siècle, où les cheveux courts étaient enroulés autours de la tête.
  8. 8
    Nom commun donné au louis d’or de 1723.
  9. 9
    Nom vernaculaire de la chayote.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “mirliton, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/mirliton

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mirliton"?
"mirliton" is spelled M-I-R-L-I-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \miʁ.li.tɔ̃\.
What does "mirliton" mean?
As a noun, "mirliton" means: Membrane vibrante recouvrant un trou et mise en branle par un souffle ou une vibration sonore, produisant un son nasillard. → voir kazoo
How do you pronounce "mirliton"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mirliton" is \miʁ.li.tɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mirliton" come from?
"mirliton" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “mirliton”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is M-I-R-L-I-T-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \miʁ.li.tɔ̃\ (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

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list