monocle

\mɔ.nɔkl\

/\mɔ.nɔkl\/ noun

The verdict

“monocle” is uncommon French (frequency #63,935 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,935
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Petit verre d’optique qui se place dans l’arcade sourcilière.

Corpus desk

Index FR-monocle · monocle · French

monocle · rank #63,935 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,935
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH monnayeurs

Nearest frequency peer: monnayeurs (-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 « monocle »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for monocle
PropertyValue
Headwordmonocle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɔ.nɔkl\
Letters7
Frequency rank#63,935
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « monocle » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).monocletombe 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: « monnayeurs » (#63,934), « monstrueusement » (#63,936), « Montdidier » (#63,937). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « monocle » est au #63,935. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

monocle is uncommon French at frequency #63,935 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \mɔ.nɔkl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for monocle in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is monocle, spelled M-O-N-O-C-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Petit verre d’optique qui se place dans l’arcade sourcilière.
  2. 2
    Anus.
  3. 3
    N’importe quelle espèce de crustacés du genre Monoculus.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il avait une face plate et régulière de magistrat, à gros favoris blonds, qu’il tâchait de rendre aiguë, en se servant d’un monocle, derrière lequel son œil pétillait.
  2. Comme la vue de Swann était un peu basse, il dut se résigner à se servir de lunettes pour travailler chez lui, et à adopter, pour aller dans le monde, le monocle qui le défigurait moins.

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); 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 "monocle"?
"monocle" is spelled M-O-N-O-C-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mɔ.nɔkl\.
What does "monocle" mean?
As a noun, "monocle" means: Petit verre d’optique qui se place dans l’arcade sourcilière.
How do you pronounce "monocle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "monocle" is \mɔ.nɔkl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "monocle" come from?
"monocle" 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 "monocle", 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