pierre noire

\pjɛʁ nwaʁ\

/\pjɛʁ nwaʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pierre noire” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Crayon noir constitué d’ampélite que les maçons, les menuisiers, etc., emploient pour tracer leurs ouvrages, et dont on se sert aussi pour dessiner.

Key facts for pierre noire
PropertyValue
Headwordpierre noire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pjɛʁ nwaʁ\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “pierre noire” sits in French frequency

pierre noire falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pierre noire is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pjɛʁ nwaʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Crayon noir constitué d’ampélite que les maçons, les menuisiers, etc., emploient pour tracer leurs ouvrages, et dont on se sert aussi pour dessiner.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for pierre noire, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pierre noire, spelled P-I-E-R-R-E- -N-O-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Crayon noir constitué d’ampélite que les maçons, les menuisiers, etc., emploient pour tracer leurs ouvrages, et dont on se sert aussi pour dessiner.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pierre noire"?
"pierre noire" is spelled P-I-E-R-R-E- -N-O-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pjɛʁ nwaʁ\.
What does "pierre noire" mean?
As a noun, "pierre noire" means: Crayon noir constitué d’ampélite que les maçons, les menuisiers, etc., emploient pour tracer leurs ouvrages, et dont on se sert aussi pour dessiner.
How do you pronounce "pierre noire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pierre noire" is \pjɛʁ nwaʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pierre noire" come from?
"pierre noire" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “pierre noire”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is P-I-E-R-R-E- -N-O-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pjɛʁ nwaʁ\ (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
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list