opuntia

\ɔ.pɔ̃.sja\

/\ɔ.pɔ̃.sja\/ noun

The verdict

“opuntia” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Genre (Opuntia, Philip Miller 1754) de cactacée dont la tige, dépourvue de feuilles, est articulée, aplatie, et s’élargit, entre les articulations, en forme de raquette nommées cladodes. Communémen...

Corpus desk

Index FR-opuntia · opuntia · French

opuntia · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "O" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for opuntia
PropertyValue
Headwordopuntia
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔ.pɔ̃.sja\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « opuntia » en français

opuntiasiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

opuntia is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɔ.pɔ̃.sja\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Genre (Opuntia, Philip Miller 1754) de cactacée dont la tige, dépourvue de feuilles, est articulée, aplatie, et s’élargit, entre les articulations, en forme de raquette nommées cladodes. Communémen...".

Zero misspellings are on record for opuntia in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is opuntia, spelled O-P-U-N-T-I-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Genre (Opuntia, Philip Miller 1754) de cactacée dont la tige, dépourvue de feuilles, est articulée, aplatie, et s’élargit, entre les articulations, en forme de raquette nommées cladodes. Communément appelé oponce et cactus raquette.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Le nopal ou figuier de Barbarie (Opuntia ficus-indica) est une espèce d’opuntia qui produit des fruits comestibles, les figues de Barbarie.

Synonyms

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "opuntia"?
"opuntia" is spelled O-P-U-N-T-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔ.pɔ̃.sja\.
What does "opuntia" mean?
As a noun, "opuntia" means: Genre (Opuntia, Philip Miller 1754) de cactacée dont la tige, dépourvue de feuilles, est articulée, aplatie, et s’élargit, entre les articulations, en forme de raquette nommées cladodes. Communémen...
How do you pronounce "opuntia"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "opuntia" is \ɔ.pɔ̃.sja\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "opuntia" come from?
"opuntia" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list