pileux

\pi.lø\

/\pi.lø\/ adj

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

The verdict

“pileux” is uncommon French (frequency #70,108 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,108
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui a rapport aux poils.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pileux · pileux · French

pileux · rank #70,108 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,108
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH Piccard

Nearest frequency peer: Piccard (-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 « pileux »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pileux
PropertyValue
Headwordpileux
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pi.lø\
Letters6
Frequency rank#70,108
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « pileux » en français

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

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « Piccard » (#70,107), « pix » (#70,109), « photonique » (#70,106). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pileux » est au #70,108. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pileux is uncommon French at frequency #70,108 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \pi.lø\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for pileux, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pileux, spelled P-I-L-E-U-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui a rapport aux poils.
  2. 2
    Qui a rapport aux écailles en forme de poils sur certaines plantes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Ses deux douzaines de cheveux demeurés fidèles se tournaient, se contournaient et se recontournaient sur son crâne pour donner, à une portée de fusil, l'illusion d'un système pileux follement développé.

Synonyms

pilaire

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 "pileux"?
"pileux" is spelled P-I-L-E-U-X. The IPA pronunciation is \pi.lø\.
What does "pileux" mean?
As an adjective, "pileux" means: Qui a rapport aux poils.
How do you pronounce "pileux"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pileux" is \pi.lø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pileux" come from?
"pileux" 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 "pileux", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

placid#70,112pochon#70,116poggio#70,117perdes#70,098

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list