permanent
\pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃\
The verdict
“permanent” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #5,059 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,059
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est stable, immuable, qui dure sans changer, qui dure constamment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | permanent |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #5,059 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “permanent” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for permanent is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #5,059 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for permanent, with forms such as "eprmanent", "pemranent", and "peramnent". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "pertinent", "permirent", "permanente", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented 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 permanent, spelled P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Qui est stable, immuable, qui dure sans changer, qui dure constamment.
- 2Qui est à demeure ; par opposition à temporaire ou passager.
- 3Qui est constamment en fonctions, en organisation.
- 4Se dit d’un gaz qui conserve l’état aériforme à toutes les températures et sous toutes les pressions.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eprmanent,pemranent,peramnent,permaennt,permanennt,permanentt,permanetn,permannent,permannet,permmanent,permnaent,perrmanent,ppermanent,premanent
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of permanent - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "permanent"?
What does "permanent" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "permanent"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “permanent”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pɛʁ.ma.nɑ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pertinent” - see the side-by-side comparison. permanent vs pertinent
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.