pertinent
\pɛʁ.ti.nɑ̃\
The verdict
“pertinent” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #11,457 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,457
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est tel qu’il convient, qui est approprié, qui est en rapport avec le sujet.
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 | pertinent |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \pɛʁ.ti.nɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #11,457 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pertinent” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for pertinent is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pɛʁ.ti.nɑ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #11,457 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. 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 pertinent, with forms such as "eprtinent", "peritnent", and "perrtinent". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "pertinente", "pertinents", "pertinentes", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, 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 pertinent, spelled P-E-R-T-I-N-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Qui est tel qu’il convient, qui est approprié, qui est en rapport avec le sujet.
- 2Qui se rapporte à la question, qui appartient au fond de la cause.
- 3Qui a de l’à-propos, de la répartie, de l’esprit ; qui est vif.
- 4Qui peut se transformer en élément dangereux pour la santé.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eprtinent,peritnent,perrtinent,pertiennt,pertinennt,pertinentt,pertinetn,pertinnent,pertinnet,pertnient,perttinent,petrinent,ppertinent,pretinent
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pertinent - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "pertinent"?
What does "pertinent" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "pertinent"?
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What language does "pertinent" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “pertinent”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-E-R-T-I-N-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pɛʁ.ti.nɑ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pertinente” - see the side-by-side comparison. pertinent vs pertinente
- 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.