paratonnerre
\pa.ʁa.tɔ.nɛʁ\
The verdict
“paratonnerre” is uncommon French (frequency #65,389 among 248,534 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,389
- frequency rank, French
- 248,534
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tige métallique ou système de tiges que l’on fait communiquer avec la terre humide ou avec l’eau, et qui est dressée sur un édifice pour le préserver des effets de la foudre, soit en neutralisant l...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | paratonnerre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pa.ʁa.tɔ.nɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #65,389 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “paratonnerre” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
paratonnerre is uncommon French at frequency #65,389 among 248,534 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pa.ʁa.tɔ.nɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
paratonnerre doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is paratonnerre, spelled P-A-R-A-T-O-N-N-E-R-R-E.
Definition
- 1Tige métallique ou système de tiges que l’on fait communiquer avec la terre humide ou avec l’eau, et qui est dressée sur un édifice pour le préserver des effets de la foudre, soit en neutralisant l’électricité des nuages, soit en attirant l’électricité de la foudre et en la conduisant dans le sol.
- 2Personne ou entité qui supporte tous les coups, de son plein gré ou non, dans le cadre d'un combat (elle est devenue la cible unique sur laquelle se concentrent les attaques).
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
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Using “paratonnerre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-A-R-A-T-O-N-N-E-R-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pa.ʁa.tɔ.nɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.