patou

\pa.tu\

/\pa.tu\/ noun

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

The verdict

“patou” is uncommon French (frequency #54,784 among 248,534 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,784
frequency rank, French
248,534
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Race de grand chien molossoïde type chien de montagne, chien de protection de troupeau des Pyrénées, au poil bien fourni, souvent à robe blanche.

Key facts for patou
PropertyValue
Headwordpatou
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pa.tu\
Letters5
Frequency rank#54,784
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “patou” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). patou lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

patou is uncommon French at frequency #54,784 among 248,534 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pa.tu\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for patou in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is patou, spelled P-A-T-O-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Race de grand chien molossoïde type chien de montagne, chien de protection de troupeau des Pyrénées, au poil bien fourni, souvent à robe blanche.
  2. 2
    En Bretagne, gardien de vaches.

Synonyms

chien de montagne des Pyrénéesmontagne des Pyrénéeschien pyrénéen

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 "patou"?
"patou" is spelled P-A-T-O-U. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.tu\.
What does "patou" mean?
As a noun, "patou" means: Race de grand chien molossoïde type chien de montagne, chien de protection de troupeau des Pyrénées, au poil bien fourni, souvent à robe blanche.
How do you pronounce "patou"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "patou" is \pa.tu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "patou" come from?
"patou" 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.

Using “patou”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is P-A-T-O-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pa.tu\ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list