penguin
\ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn\
The verdict
“penguin” is uncommon French (frequency #50,410 among 248,534 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,410
- frequency rank, French
- 248,534
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Manchot, gorfou, oiseau de genre Spheniscidae vivant dans l’hémisphère sud.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | penguin |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #50,410 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “penguin” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
penguin is uncommon French at frequency #50,410 among 248,534 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
penguin has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No explicit etymology string is stored 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 penguin, spelled P-E-N-G-U-I-N.
Definition
- 1Manchot, gorfou, oiseau de genre Spheniscidae vivant dans l’hémisphère sud.
- 2Grand pingouin, espèce éteinte de nom scientifique Pinguinus impennis.
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 “penguin”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-E-N-G-U-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn\ (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.