obscurité

\ɔp.sky.ʁi.te\

/\ɔp.sky.ʁi.te\/ noun

The verdict

“obscurité” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,743. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,743
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Absence partielle ou totale de lumière.

Corpus desk

Index FR-obscurite · obscurité · French

obscurité · rank #8,743 · 14 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,743
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH night

Nearest frequency peer: night (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “obscurité”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “obscurité” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

obscurité vs obscure
67% similar
obscurité vs obscénité
78% similar

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

Key facts for obscurité
PropertyValue
Headwordobscurité
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔp.sky.ʁi.te\
Letters9
Frequency rank#8,743
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “obscurité” se place dans la fréquence du français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « night » (#8,742), « obtenue » (#8,744), « Niger » (#8,741). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around obscurité (IPA \ɔp.sky.ʁi.te\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,743 among 1,642 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for obscurité, with forms such as "boscurité", "obbscurité", and "obcsurité". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "obscure", "obscénité", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is obscurité, spelled O-B-S-C-U-R-I-T-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Absence partielle ou totale de lumière.
  2. 2
    Défaut de clarté dans les idées, dans les expressions.
  3. 3
    Passages difficiles à comprendre ; points douteux.
  4. 4
    Situation médiocre, sans éclat.
  5. 5
    Absence de connaissance qu’on a des choses ; ignorance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Au milieu de l’insondable obscurité, dont s’enveloppe le Kara-Koum, j’éprouve l’impression que donne l’immensité nocturne de la mer autour d’un navire.
  2. Le dirigeable commençait à se livrer à des exploits de jiu-jitsu atmosphérique, et Bert se trouva balloté dans une obscurité pluvieuse où il ne distinguait autre chose qu'un brouillard qui se déversait tout autour de lui.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • boscurité
  • obbscurité
  • obcsurité
  • obsccurité
  • obscruité
  • obscuirté
  • obscurite
  • obscuritté
  • obscuriét
  • obscurrité
  • obscurtié
  • obsscurité
  • obsucrité
  • osbcurité

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obscurité - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

boscurité2obbscurité1obcsurité2obsccurité1obscruité2obscuirté2obscurite1obscuritté1
Edit distance from "obscurité"

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 "obscurité"?
"obscurité" is spelled O-B-S-C-U-R-I-T-É. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔp.sky.ʁi.te\.
What does "obscurité" mean?
As a noun, "obscurité" means: Absence partielle ou totale de lumière.
What words are commonly confused with "obscurité"?
"obscurité" is commonly confused with "obscure", "obscénité". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "obscurité"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "obscurité" is \ɔp.sky.ʁi.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "obscurité" come from?
"obscurité" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "obscurité", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

What to do next

You've looked up "obscurité". Here's where to go from here.

  • "obscurité" maps to 2 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "obscure". View pair
  • 14 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #8,743 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "O" letter cohort. O–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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