murex

\my.ʁɛks\

/\my.ʁɛks\/ noun

The verdict

“murex” is uncommon French (frequency #81,363 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,363
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gastéropode hérissé de pointes, autrefois utilisé pour produire de la pourpre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-murex · murex · French

murex · rank #81,363 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,363
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH Murcia

Nearest frequency peer: Murcia (-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 « murex »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for murex
PropertyValue
Headwordmurex
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\my.ʁɛks\
Letters5
Frequency rank#81,363
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « murex » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).murextombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Murcia » (#81,362), « mui » (#81,361), « muséographie » (#81,366). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « murex » est au #81,363. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

murex is uncommon French at frequency #81,363 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \my.ʁɛks\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Gastéropode hérissé de pointes, autrefois utilisé pour produire de la pourpre.".

No misspelling variants are generated for murex in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is murex, spelled M-U-R-E-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Gastéropode hérissé de pointes, autrefois utilisé pour produire de la pourpre.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Voici les strombes, on les trouve dans l’Océan Indien, voici le murex fine-épine qui vit en Méditerranée, le murex monodon, la delphinule.
  2. Si Byblos est le pays du cèdre, Tyr est celui du murex, le coquillage qu’on récoltait et broyait pour obtenir la teinture rouge, la fameuse pourpre qui était un des éléments de la renommée des Phéniciens.

Synonyms

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 "murex"?
"murex" is spelled M-U-R-E-X. The IPA pronunciation is \my.ʁɛks\.
What does "murex" mean?
As a noun, "murex" means: Gastéropode hérissé de pointes, autrefois utilisé pour produire de la pourpre.
How do you pronounce "murex"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "murex" is \my.ʁɛks\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "murex" come from?
"murex" 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 "murex", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list