nau

\no\

/\no\/ noun

The verdict

“nau” is uncommon French (frequency #66,152 among 1,563 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,152
frequency rank, French
1,563
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sarcophage, cercueil médiéval.

Corpus desk

Index FR-nau · nau · French

nau · rank #66,152 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,152
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,563
  • PHOTO-FINISH Najib

Nearest frequency peer: Najib (-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 « nau »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for nau
PropertyValue
Headwordnau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\no\
Letters3
Frequency rank#66,152
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « nau » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.nautombe 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: « Najib » (#66,151), « navigations » (#66,153), « naissantes » (#66,150). Parmi 1,563 lemmes en « N », « nau » est au #66,152. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

nau is uncommon French at frequency #66,152 among 1,563 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \no\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Sarcophage, cercueil médiéval.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for nau in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is nau, spelled N-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sarcophage, cercueil médiéval.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les sarcophages, ou naus, ou auges, ou coffres et couvercles funéraires, à Quarré, rangés actuellement au nombre de cent onze pièces autour de l'église paroissiale, offrent quelque diversité quant à leur ornementation, mais une parfaite unité de forme.
  2. C'est Nicolas du Mangin, évêque in partibus de Salone et vicaire général de Georges d'Armagnac qui se déplace pour faire la visite du corps, avec les chanoines et les consuls, le 26 octobre. Ils le trouvent dans une « nau de pierre couverte d'une grande pierre », la tête vers l'autel.

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 "nau"?
"nau" is spelled N-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \no\.
What does "nau" mean?
As a noun, "nau" means: Sarcophage, cercueil médiéval.
How do you pronounce "nau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nau" is \no\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nau" come from?
"nau" 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 "nau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list