obscurcir

\ɔp.skyʁ.siʁ\

/\ɔp.skyʁ.siʁ\/ verb

The verdict

“obscurcir” is uncommon French (frequency #64,655 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,655
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rendre obscur, priver de lumière.

Corpus desk

Index FR-obscurcir · obscurcir · French

obscurcir · rank #64,655 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,655
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH Nérac

Nearest frequency peer: Nérac (-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 « obscurcir »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for obscurcir
PropertyValue
Headwordobscurcir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ɔp.skyʁ.siʁ\
Letters9
Frequency rank#64,655
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « obscurcir » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).obscurcirtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Nérac » (#64,654), « octroient » (#64,656), « négligents » (#64,653). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « obscurcir » est au #64,655. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

obscurcir is uncommon French at frequency #64,655 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ɔp.skyʁ.siʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for obscurcir in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is obscurcir, spelled O-B-S-C-U-R-C-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rendre obscur, priver de lumière.
  2. 2
    Devenir plus foncé, retirer l'éclat d’un objet.
  3. 3
    Rendre confus, rendre peu compréhensible.
  4. 4
    Compliquer et rendre illisible un code ou un programme informatique.
  5. 5
    Entacher la réputation ou la renommée d'une personne.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les nuages obscurcissent le jour, le soleil.
  2. Les fumées obscurcissent l’air.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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

How do you spell "obscurcir"?
"obscurcir" is spelled O-B-S-C-U-R-C-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔp.skyʁ.siʁ\.
What does "obscurcir" mean?
As a verb, "obscurcir" means: Rendre obscur, priver de lumière.
How do you pronounce "obscurcir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "obscurcir" is \ɔp.skyʁ.siʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "obscurcir" come from?
"obscurcir" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "obscurcir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list