modiste

\mɔ.dist\

/\mɔ.dist\/ noun

The verdict

“modiste” is uncommon French (frequency #83,170 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,170
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ouvrière en modes ; marchande de modes → voir modes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-modiste · modiste · French

modiste · rank #83,170 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,170
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH mitra

Nearest frequency peer: mitra (-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 « modiste »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for modiste
PropertyValue
Headwordmodiste
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɔ.dist\
Letters7
Frequency rank#83,170
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « modiste » en français

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

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « mitra » (#83,169), « moignons » (#83,171), « mitigation » (#83,168). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « modiste » est au #83,170. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

modiste is uncommon French at frequency #83,170 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \mɔ.dist\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for modiste in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is modiste, spelled M-O-D-I-S-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ouvrière en modes ; marchande de modes → voir modes.
  2. 2
    Ouvrière qui confectionne les chapeaux féminins pour le marchand de modes (c’est-à-dire pour le modiste selon l’acception vieillie).
  3. 3
    Personne dont le métier consiste à réaliser sur mesure des chapeaux et à les vendre dans sa boutique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il fallait la voir regarder, de ses yeux bordés de rouge, les étalages des bas de soie brodés, et les chapeaux joliment chiffonnés, qui, chez les modistes, se dressent fièrement au haut des champignons de palissandre !
  2. Ils ne fréquentent chez les marchands et les modistes que pour se gausser de notre manque d’instruction et pour les beuveries.

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); 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 "modiste"?
"modiste" is spelled M-O-D-I-S-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mɔ.dist\.
What does "modiste" mean?
As a noun, "modiste" means: Ouvrière en modes ; marchande de modes → voir modes.
How do you pronounce "modiste"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "modiste" is \mɔ.dist\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "modiste" come from?
"modiste" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "modiste", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list