porte-drapeau

\pɔʁt.dʁa.po\

/\pɔʁt.dʁa.po\/ noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Personne qui porte le drapeau d’un régiment, d’un défilé.

Corpus desk

Index FR-porte-drapeau · porte-drapeau · French

porte-drapeau · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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 porte-drapeau
PropertyValue
Headwordporte-drapeau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔʁt.dʁa.po\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « porte-drapeau » en français

porte-drapeausiège 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

porte-drapeau is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɔʁt.dʁa.po\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for porte-drapeau in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is porte-drapeau, spelled P-O-R-T-E---D-R-A-P-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personne qui porte le drapeau d’un régiment, d’un défilé.
  2. 2
    Ce qui symbolise ou incarne une idée, une doctrine, un parti.
  3. 3
    Support de drapeau qui est fixé sur la façade d'un bâtiment.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les représentants de la famille Mounié étaient présents ainsi que de nombreux porte-drapeaux aux côtés des enfants du RPI et des administrés venus en nombre, tout comme les élus des communes voisines.
  2. Le nationalisme arabe a servi de catalyseur, sinon de porte-drapeau, à un processus de régulation de l’État et de la société dans certaines parties du monde islamique.

Synonyms

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 "porte-drapeau"?
"porte-drapeau" is spelled P-O-R-T-E---D-R-A-P-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔʁt.dʁa.po\.
What does "porte-drapeau" mean?
As a noun, "porte-drapeau" means: Personne qui porte le drapeau d’un régiment, d’un défilé.
How do you pronounce "porte-drapeau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "porte-drapeau" is \pɔʁt.dʁa.po\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "porte-drapeau" come from?
"porte-drapeau" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list