pli

/\pli\/ noun

Letters

3 characters

Frequency Rank

#19,108

in French word usage

Misspellings

0

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

pli is aFrenchnoun. It means: Double qu’on fait à une étoffe, à du linge, à du papier, etc., en rabattant une partie contre une autre. Pronounced \pli\. Often confused with pu and PS.

Key facts for pli
PropertyValue
Headwordpli
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pli\
Letters3
Frequency rank#19,108
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of pli in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for pli is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pli\. Corpus data places it at rank #19,108 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for pli in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable French patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pu", "PS", "PQ", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is pli, spelled P-L-I, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Double qu’on fait à une étoffe, à du linge, à du papier, etc., en rabattant une partie contre une autre.
  2. 2
    Sinuosité que présente une étoffe flottante, une draperie.
  3. 3
    Lettre (parce qu'on repliait le papier pour fermer les lettres) ; enveloppe de lettre.
  4. 4
    Secret, endroit caché.
  5. 5
    Marque qui reste à une étoffe, à du linge, à du papier, etc., pour avoir été plié.
  6. 6
    Usage, habitude.
  7. 7
    Position de la tête du cheval, plus ou moins en dedans ou en dehors. → voir plier
  8. 8
    Ce qui ressemble au pli d’une étoffe, etc.
  9. 9
    Ride.
  10. 10
    Articulation.
  11. 11
    Coin.
  12. 12
    Levée, ensemble des cartes jouées lors d’un tour de jeu de cartes.
  13. 13
    Déformation ductile d’une roche.
  14. 14
    Feuillet d’une carte pliée.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #19,108 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pli"?
"pli" is spelled P-L-I. The IPA pronunciation is \pli\.
What does "pli" mean?
As a noun, "pli" means: Double qu’on fait à une étoffe, à du linge, à du papier, etc., en rabattant une partie contre une autre.
What words are commonly confused with "pli"?
"pli" is commonly confused with "pu", "PS", "PQ". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pli"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pli" is \pli\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pli" come from?
"pli" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.