palatal

\pa.la.tal\

/\pa.la.tal\/ adj

The verdict

“palatal” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. 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) - Qui tient au palais, à la partie supérieure du dedans de la bouche.

Corpus desk

Index FR-palatal · palatal · French

palatal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" 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 palatal
PropertyValue
Headwordpalatal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pa.la.tal\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « palatal » en français

palatalreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

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

Rare enough to double-check

palatal is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \pa.la.tal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for palatal in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is palatal, spelled P-A-L-A-T-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui tient au palais, à la partie supérieure du dedans de la bouche.
  2. 2
    Se dit des voyelles ou des consonnes dont le point d’articulation se situe au niveau du palais dur, à l’avant de la cavité buccale.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Voûte palatale.
  2. Artère palatale.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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 "palatal"?
"palatal" is spelled P-A-L-A-T-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.la.tal\.
What does "palatal" mean?
As an adjective, "palatal" means: Qui tient au palais, à la partie supérieure du dedans de la bouche.
How do you pronounce "palatal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "palatal" is \pa.la.tal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "palatal" come from?
"palatal" 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