plosive

\plɔ.ziv\

/\plɔ.ziv\/ noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Consonne, plus couramment appelée occlusive.

Corpus desk

Index FR-plosive · plosive · French

plosive · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for plosive
PropertyValue
Headwordplosive
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\plɔ.ziv\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « plosive » en français

plosivesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

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

Rare enough to double-check

plosive is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \plɔ.ziv\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Consonne, plus couramment appelée occlusive.".

plosive has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is plosive, spelled P-L-O-S-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Consonne, plus couramment appelée occlusive.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les classes retenus et décrites plus bas sont plosive, nasale, vibrante, battue, fricative, fricative latérale, approximante et approximante latérale.
  2. On désigne du terme de plosive (on disait autrefois explosive) un son non nasal produit par la fermeture complète et momentanée du chenal expiratoire résultant du contact entre deux articulateurs.

This word in other languages

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 "plosive"?
"plosive" is spelled P-L-O-S-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is \plɔ.ziv\.
What does "plosive" mean?
As a noun, "plosive" means: Consonne, plus couramment appelée occlusive.
How do you pronounce "plosive"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "plosive" is \plɔ.ziv\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "plosive" come from?
"plosive" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list