moisir

\mwa.ziʁ\

/\mwa.ziʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“moisir” is uncommon French (frequency #64,618 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,618
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Se couvrir de moisissure.

Corpus desk

Index FR-moisir · moisir · French

moisir · rank #64,618 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,618
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH monachisme

Nearest frequency peer: monachisme (+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 « moisir »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for moisir
PropertyValue
Headwordmoisir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\mwa.ziʁ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#64,618
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « moisir » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.moisirtombe 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: « monachisme » (#64,619), « modifs » (#64,616), « monier » (#64,620). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « moisir » est au #64,618. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

moisir is uncommon French at frequency #64,618 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \mwa.ziʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

moisir doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is moisir, spelled M-O-I-S-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Se couvrir de moisissure.
  2. 2
    Rester longtemps dans la même situation, au même endroit, en parlant d'une personne.
  3. 3
    Altérer, dénaturer par la moisissure.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On a gardé trop longtemps ce pâté, il a moisi. (Pronominal) il s’est moisi.
  2. Voyez-vous, madame, reprit-il, un peu embarrassé, vous ne pouvez pas éternellement moisir dans cette turne.

Synonyms

chancir

This word in other languages

moldy(English)enmohecerse(Español)schimmeln(Deutsch)mofar(Português)

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 "moisir"?
"moisir" is spelled M-O-I-S-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \mwa.ziʁ\.
What does "moisir" mean?
As a verb, "moisir" means: Se couvrir de moisissure.
How do you pronounce "moisir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "moisir" is \mwa.ziʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "moisir" come from?
"moisir" 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 "moisir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

modifs#64,616monier#64,620merlan#64,610Meriem#64,609

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list