novus

adj

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

The verdict

“novus” is uncommon French (frequency #86,968 among 86,328 “N” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#86,968
frequency rank, French
86,328
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nouveau, récent, récemment enrôlé.

Key facts for novus
PropertyValue
Headwordnovus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
Letters5
Frequency rank#86,968
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “novus” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). novus lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

novus is uncommon French at frequency #86,968 among 86,328 “N” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for novus in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is novus, spelled N-O-V-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nouveau, récent, récemment enrôlé.
  2. 2
    Innové, refait à neuf, renouvelé.
  3. 3
    Neuf : inouï, jamais vu, inconnu, inusité, extraordinaire, étrange.
  4. 4
    Inconnu, de naissance obscure.
  5. 5
    Novice, inexpérimenté, qui n'a pas ou n’est pas éprouvé, dont on n'a pas l'habitude.
  6. 6
    Imprévu, inattendu.
  7. 7
    Nouveau dans son genre : inouï, grand, admirable.

Synonyms

recensnovellus

Antonyms

senexantiquusveteranusemeritus

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 "novus"?
"novus" is spelled N-O-V-U-S.
What does "novus" mean?
As an adjective, "novus" means: Nouveau, récent, récemment enrôlé.
What language does "novus" come from?
"novus" 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.

Using “novus”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is N-O-V-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Other uncommon French words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list