pichenette

\piʃ.nɛt\

/\piʃ.nɛt\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pichenette” is uncommon French (frequency #71,791 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,791
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Coup de doigt que l’on donne du majeur ou de l'auriculaire, lorsque, après l’avoir plié et raidi contre le pouce, on le lâche sur le visage, le nez, les oreilles, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pichenette · pichenette · French

pichenette · rank #71,791 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #71,791
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH physiopatholo…

Nearest frequency peer: physiopathologie (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « pichenette »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « pichenette » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pichenette
PropertyValue
Headwordpichenette
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\piʃ.nɛt\
Letters10
Frequency rank#71,791
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « pichenette » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).pichenettetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « physiopathologie » (#71,790), « planifiez » (#71,792), « philosophical » (#71,789). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pichenette » est au #71,791. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pichenette is uncommon French at frequency #71,791 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \piʃ.nɛt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

pichenette doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, 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 its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pichenette, spelled P-I-C-H-E-N-E-T-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Coup de doigt que l’on donne du majeur ou de l'auriculaire, lorsque, après l’avoir plié et raidi contre le pouce, on le lâche sur le visage, le nez, les oreilles, etc.
  2. 2
    Dans le contexte des téléphones intelligents, mouvement horizontal ou vertical rapide de l’index sur l’écran tactile.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pichenette appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il jouait on ne sait quel effrayant jeu de cache-cache avec la mort ; chaque fois que la face camarde du spectre s’approchait, le gamin lui donnait une pichenette.
  2. D’une pichenette il fait disparaître un grain de poussière égaré sur sa manche, puis, automatiquement, en faisant aller les bras, il manœuvre en criant : une, deux ; une, deux.

Synonyms

chiquenaude

This word in other languages

flick(English)chicotazo(Español)

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 "pichenette"?
"pichenette" is spelled P-I-C-H-E-N-E-T-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \piʃ.nɛt\.
What does "pichenette" mean?
As a noun, "pichenette" means: Coup de doigt que l’on donne du majeur ou de l'auriculaire, lorsque, après l’avoir plié et raidi contre le pouce, on le lâche sur le visage, le nez, les oreilles, etc.
How do you pronounce "pichenette"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pichenette" is \piʃ.nɛt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pichenette" come from?
"pichenette" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pichenette", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

platitudes#71,795parfumeurs#71,769pressentis#71,816privatives#71,818

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list