ombudsman

\ɔm.byds.man\

/\ɔm.byds.man\/ noun

The verdict

“ombudsman” is uncommon French (frequency #55,479 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,479
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Médiateur indépendant, représentant un contre-pouvoir, un recours contre l'État, ses abus, ses lourdeurs.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ombudsman · ombudsman · French

ombudsman · rank #55,479 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,479
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH oléoducs

Nearest frequency peer: oléoducs (-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 « ombudsman »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ombudsman
PropertyValue
Headwordombudsman
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔm.byds.man\
Letters9
Frequency rank#55,479
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ombudsman » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ombudsmantombe 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: « oléoducs » (#55,478), « omoplate » (#55,480), « ohm » (#55,477). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « ombudsman » est au #55,479. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ombudsman is uncommon French at frequency #55,479 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɔm.byds.man\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for ombudsman in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is ombudsman, spelled O-M-B-U-D-S-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Médiateur indépendant, représentant un contre-pouvoir, un recours contre l'État, ses abus, ses lourdeurs.
  2. 2
    Tout médiateur indépendant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Mme Mulroney dit avoir pleinement confiance en la capacité de la commissaire aux services en français, un poste créé au sein du bureau de l'ombudsman de l’Ontario après l’abolition du Commissariat, d’enquêter sur les manquements à la LSF.
  2. Les ombudsmans sont des porteurs de doléances des citoyens, des usagers ou des consommateurs.

Synonyms

ombudsombudspersonneombudswoman

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 "ombudsman"?
"ombudsman" is spelled O-M-B-U-D-S-M-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔm.byds.man\.
What does "ombudsman" mean?
As a noun, "ombudsman" means: Médiateur indépendant, représentant un contre-pouvoir, un recours contre l'État, ses abus, ses lourdeurs.
How do you pronounce "ombudsman"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ombudsman" is \ɔm.byds.man\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ombudsman" come from?
"ombudsman" 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 "ombudsman", 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