parasiter

\pa.ʁa.zi.te\

/\pa.ʁa.zi.te\/ verb

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

The verdict

“parasiter” is uncommon French (frequency #66,976 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,976
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Vivre, se nourrir, se reproduire aux dépens d'autrui.

Corpus desk

Index FR-parasiter · parasiter · French

parasiter · rank #66,976 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,976
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH parant

Nearest frequency peer: parant (-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 « parasiter »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for parasiter
PropertyValue
Headwordparasiter
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pa.ʁa.zi.te\
Letters9
Frequency rank#66,976
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « parasiter » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).parasitertombe 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: « parant » (#66,975), « parricide » (#66,977), « paramétrer » (#66,974). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « parasiter » est au #66,976. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

parasiter is uncommon French at frequency #66,976 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \pa.ʁa.zi.te\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for parasiter in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is parasiter, spelled P-A-R-A-S-I-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Vivre, se nourrir, se reproduire aux dépens d'autrui.
  2. 2
    Perturber, troubler la réception des signaux sonores.
  3. 3
    Nuire à la sérénité mentale ou psychologique.
  4. 4
    Attraper des parasites.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. L'aventure du phylloxera fut, d'ailleurs, sur le point de se renouveler quelques années plus tard, lors de l’invasion de l'Europe par le doryphore, vulgairement appelés bête du Colorado et comme son nom l'indique, lui aussi originaire de l'Amérique du Nord, et qui parasite la pomme de terre.
  2. Le coucou parasite le nid d’autres espèces d’oiseaux pour y pondre ses œufs.

This word in other languages

parasitise(English)parasitar(Español)schmarotzen(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 "parasiter"?
"parasiter" is spelled P-A-R-A-S-I-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.ʁa.zi.te\.
What does "parasiter" mean?
As a verb, "parasiter" means: Vivre, se nourrir, se reproduire aux dépens d'autrui.
How do you pronounce "parasiter"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "parasiter" is \pa.ʁa.zi.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "parasiter" come from?
"parasiter" 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 "parasiter", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

parricide#66,977pascaline#66,980papaoutai#66,970passéiste#66,982

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list