potentat

\pɔ.tɑ̃.ta\

/\pɔ.tɑ̃.ta\/ noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
8
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Personne qui a la puissance souveraine dans un grand État.

Corpus desk

Index FR-potentat · potentat · French

potentat · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 8 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 potentat
PropertyValue
Headwordpotentat
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ.tɑ̃.ta\
Letters8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « potentat » en français

potentatsiège 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

potentat is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɔ.tɑ̃.ta\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for potentat in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is potentat, spelled P-O-T-E-N-T-A-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personne qui a la puissance souveraine dans un grand État.
  2. 2
    Personnage qui possède un pouvoir excessif par sa situation économique, hiérarchique ou sociale.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le Sénat décidait, mais derrière ses décisions nous saisissons l’action de ces potentats de la finance qui tenaient les fils dans l’ombre et faisaient mouvoir les acteurs du premier plan.
  2. Dans bien des cas, la coutume régionale et la pratique traditionnelle préislamique, combiné à la volonté arbitraire du potentat régnant, sont devenues la base légale du gouvernement.

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 "potentat"?
"potentat" is spelled P-O-T-E-N-T-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.tɑ̃.ta\.
What does "potentat" mean?
As a noun, "potentat" means: Personne qui a la puissance souveraine dans un grand État.
How do you pronounce "potentat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "potentat" is \pɔ.tɑ̃.ta\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "potentat" come from?
"potentat" 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