picnic

\pik.nik\

/\pik.nik\/ noun

The verdict

“picnic” is uncommon French (frequency #58,164 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#58,164
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Variante de pique-nique.

Corpus desk

Index FR-picnic · picnic · French

picnic · rank #58,164 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #58,164
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH Phœnix

Nearest frequency peer: Phœnix (-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 « picnic »

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 « picnic » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for picnic
PropertyValue
Headwordpicnic
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pik.nik\
Letters6
Frequency rank#58,164
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « picnic » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.picnictombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Phœnix » (#58,163), « plafonnée » (#58,165), « phénol » (#58,162). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « picnic » est au #58,164. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

picnic is uncommon French at frequency #58,164 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pik.nik\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Variante de pique-nique.".

Zero misspellings are on record for picnic in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is picnic, spelled P-I-C-N-I-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Variante de pique-nique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. — Et les picnics du dimanche au Gros-Morne ? — Ils ont vécu, les bons vieux romans qu’orne La Jeune Créole, lente, aux mœurs légères...
  2. C’est l’opinion de Mrs Thornburgh, qui met les picnics et les promenades au service de sa diplomatie, comme il convient dans ce pays pittoresque, où l’on ne peut offrir à ses invités de meilleures distractions.

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 "picnic"?
"picnic" is spelled P-I-C-N-I-C. The IPA pronunciation is \pik.nik\.
What does "picnic" mean?
As a noun, "picnic" means: Variante de pique-nique.
How do you pronounce "picnic"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "picnic" is \pik.nik\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "picnic" come from?
"picnic" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list