noir

\nwaʁ\

/\nwaʁ\/ adj

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

The verdict

“noir” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #618. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#618
frequency rank, French
1,563
“N” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui absorbe toute la lumière visible qu’il reçoit, donne l’impression d’obscurité ; la plus sombre des couleurs.

Corpus desk

Index FR-noir · noir · French

noir · rank #618 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #618
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,563
  • PHOTO-FINISH mouvement

Nearest frequency peer: mouvement (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « noir »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « noir » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

noir vs NR
0% similar
noir vs non
50% similar
noir vs nos
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for noir
PropertyValue
Headwordnoir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\nwaʁ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#618
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « noir »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).noirse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « mouvement » (#617), « origine » (#619), « intérêt » (#616). Parmi 1,563 lemmes en « N », « noir » est au #618. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around noir (IPA \nwaʁ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #618 among 1,563 “N” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for noir, with forms such as "nior", "nnoir", and "noirr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NR", "non", "nos", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is noir, spelled N-O-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui absorbe toute la lumière visible qu’il reçoit, donne l’impression d’obscurité ; la plus sombre des couleurs.
  2. 2
    Sans lumière, obscur, sombre.
  3. 3
    Qui approchent de cette couleur relativement.
  4. 4
    Bronzé, en parlant de la peau d’une personne.
  5. 5
    Ayant la peau brune jusqu’au noir, en parlant d’une personne.
  6. 6
    Lié à la communauté noire.
  7. 7
    Qui est meurtri.
  8. 8
    Sale, crasseux.
  9. 9
    Triste, morne, mélancolique, irrité, hostile, lugubre ou bien funeste.
  10. 10
    Néfaste, diabolique, en parlant des crimes, des mauvaises actions et des personnes qui les commettent.
  11. 11
    Qui est chargé de menaces, de malheur.
  12. 12
    Complètement ivre d’alcool.
  13. 13
    Qui échappe à la détection, que la science ne peut interpréter.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les Liméniennes ont toutes de belles couleurs, les lèvres d’un rouge vif, de beaux cheveux noirs et bouclés naturellement, des yeux noirs d’une expression indéfinissable d’esprit, de fierté et de langueur […]
  2. En robe noire comme toujours, parce qu’elle croyait qu’en noir on est toujours bien et que c’est ce qu’il y a de plus distingué, elle avait le visage excessivement rouge comme chaque fois qu’elle venait de manger.

This word in other languages

black(English)negro(Español)schwarz(Deutsch)preto(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • nior
  • nnoir
  • noirr
  • nori
  • onir

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of noir - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

nior2nnoir1noirr1nori2onir2
Edit distance from "noir"

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 "noir"?
"noir" is spelled N-O-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \nwaʁ\.
What does "noir" mean?
As an adjective, "noir" means: Qui absorbe toute la lumière visible qu’il reçoit, donne l’impression d’obscurité ; la plus sombre des couleurs.
What words are commonly confused with "noir"?
"noir" is commonly confused with "NR", "non", "nos". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "noir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "noir" is \nwaʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "noir" come from?
"noir" 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 "noir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

bout#609rôle#606mode#585Date#580

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

rouge5 variantsoffre5 variantssauf5 variantsmots5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list