naphtaline
\naf.ta.lin\
The verdict
“naphtaline” is uncommon French (frequency #72,572 among 1,563 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,572
- frequency rank, French
- 1,563
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Hydrocarbure extrait du goudron de houille, qui a une odeur très forte et qu’on utilise pour la conservation des fourrures et des étoffes de laine pour son effet répulsif sur les insectes.
Corpus desk
Index FR-naphtaline · naphtaline · French
naphtaline · rank #72,572 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #72,572
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,563
- PHOTO-FINISH nans
Nearest frequency peer: nans (-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 « naphtaline »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- nadon
nadon
27,432 corpus weight
- nans
nans
27,430 corpus weight
- naphtaline
naphtaline
27,429 corpus weight
- naquet
naquet
27,428 corpus weight
- natales
natales
27,427 corpus weight
- navarin
navarin
27,426 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « naphtaline » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | naphtaline |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \naf.ta.lin\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #72,572 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « naphtaline » en français
Rare enough to double-check
naphtaline is uncommon French at frequency #72,572 among 1,563 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \naf.ta.lin\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for naphtaline, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is naphtaline, spelled N-A-P-H-T-A-L-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Hydrocarbure extrait du goudron de houille, qui a une odeur très forte et qu’on utilise pour la conservation des fourrures et des étoffes de laine pour son effet répulsif sur les insectes.
- 2Symbole de l’oubli où est tombé quelque chose.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how naphtaline appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
En partant de la naphtaline, on obtient deux naphtols α et β ayant pour formule C₁₀H₇(OH). Le naphtol β est très employé comme antiseptique.
Je fus envoyé chez le « droguiste », pour acheter ces boules de naphtaline que l’on retrouve dans ses poches au premier froid.
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "naphtaline", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).