orthogonal

\ɔʁ.tɔ.ɡɔ.nal\

/\ɔʁ.tɔ.ɡɔ.nal\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“orthogonal” is uncommon French (frequency #73,408 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,408
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui forme un angle droit.

Corpus desk

Index FR-orthogonal · orthogonal · French

orthogonal · rank #73,408 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,408
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH orthodontiste

Nearest frequency peer: orthodontiste (-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 « orthogonal »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for orthogonal
PropertyValue
Headwordorthogonal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɔʁ.tɔ.ɡɔ.nal\
Letters10
Frequency rank#73,408
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « orthogonal » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.orthogonaltombe 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: « orthodontiste » (#73,407), « Orénoque » (#73,409), « Ort » (#73,406). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « orthogonal » est au #73,408. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

orthogonal is uncommon French at frequency #73,408 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ɔʁ.tɔ.ɡɔ.nal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui forme un angle droit.".

orthogonal has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is orthogonal, spelled O-R-T-H-O-G-O-N-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui forme un angle droit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Une projection orthogonale.
  2. vecteurs orthogonaux.

Synonyms

perpendiculairenormal

This word in other languages

orthogonal(English)ortogonal(Español)rechtwinklig(Deutsch)

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 "orthogonal"?
"orthogonal" is spelled O-R-T-H-O-G-O-N-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔʁ.tɔ.ɡɔ.nal\.
What does "orthogonal" mean?
As an adjective, "orthogonal" means: Qui forme un angle droit.
How do you pronounce "orthogonal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "orthogonal" is \ɔʁ.tɔ.ɡɔ.nal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "orthogonal" come from?
"orthogonal" 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 "orthogonal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pardonnons#73,420nominatifs#73,389pendulaire#73,428permettrez#73,433

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list