ornithorynque

\ɔʁ.ni.tɔ.ʁɛ̃k\

/\ɔʁ.ni.tɔ.ʁɛ̃k\/ noun

The verdict

“ornithorynque” is uncommon French (frequency #76,859 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,859
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mammifère monotrème ovipare, à bec d’oiseau, qui vit en Australie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ornithorynque · ornithorynque · French

ornithorynque · rank #76,859 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,859
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH ornithologues

Nearest frequency peer: ornithologues (-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 « ornithorynque »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ornithorynque
PropertyValue
Headwordornithorynque
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔʁ.ni.tɔ.ʁɛ̃k\
Letters13
Frequency rank#76,859
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ornithorynque » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ornithorynquetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « ornithologues » (#76,858), « oufs » (#76,862), « ondo » (#76,855). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « ornithorynque » est au #76,859. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ornithorynque is uncommon French at frequency #76,859 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɔʁ.ni.tɔ.ʁɛ̃k\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Mammifère monotrème ovipare, à bec d’oiseau, qui vit en Australie.".

ornithorynque has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 ornithorynque, spelled O-R-N-I-T-H-O-R-Y-N-Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mammifère monotrème ovipare, à bec d’oiseau, qui vit en Australie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les ornithorynques vivent au bord des rivières et des marais.
  2. L'ornithorynque... c'est un des rares mammifères dont la femelle pond des œufs. Il n'a pas de mamelle vraie : le lait s'écoule et imbibe les touffes de poils que les jeunes sucent.

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 "ornithorynque"?
"ornithorynque" is spelled O-R-N-I-T-H-O-R-Y-N-Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔʁ.ni.tɔ.ʁɛ̃k\.
What does "ornithorynque" mean?
As a noun, "ornithorynque" means: Mammifère monotrème ovipare, à bec d’oiseau, qui vit en Australie.
How do you pronounce "ornithorynque"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ornithorynque" is \ɔʁ.ni.tɔ.ʁɛ̃k\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ornithorynque" come from?
"ornithorynque" 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 "ornithorynque", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 13 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list