pourfendre

\puʁ.fɑ̃dʁ\

/\puʁ.fɑ̃dʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“pourfendre” is uncommon French (frequency #83,267 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,267
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fendre complètement, en deux parties.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pourfendre · pourfendre · French

pourfendre · rank #83,267 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,267
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pouliches

Nearest frequency peer: pouliches (-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 « pourfendre »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pourfendre
PropertyValue
Headwordpourfendre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\puʁ.fɑ̃dʁ\
Letters10
Frequency rank#83,267
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « pourfendre » en français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « pouliches » (#83,266), « potasser » (#83,265), « preacher » (#83,270). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pourfendre » est au #83,267. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pourfendre is uncommon French at frequency #83,267 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \puʁ.fɑ̃dʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

pourfendre doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is pourfendre, spelled P-O-U-R-F-E-N-D-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fendre complètement, en deux parties.
  2. 2
    Fendre une personne, un ennemi, de haut en bas d’un coup de sabre ou d’autres armes.
  3. 3
    Lutter contre, s’opposer à.
  4. 4
    Attaquer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. … la preuve de ce que je dis, c’est qu’on voit encore, sur le rocher pourfendu, et l’empreinte de sa main et celle des quatre pieds de son cheval.
  2. Il livre même des combats Aux vieux arbres de haut en bas, Et quand il ne les pourfend pas, Il les arrache !...

This word in other languages

castillo(Español)

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 "pourfendre"?
"pourfendre" is spelled P-O-U-R-F-E-N-D-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \puʁ.fɑ̃dʁ\.
What does "pourfendre" mean?
As a verb, "pourfendre" means: Fendre complètement, en deux parties.
How do you pronounce "pourfendre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pourfendre" is \puʁ.fɑ̃dʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pourfendre" come from?
"pourfendre" 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 "pourfendre", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

préciosité#83,279phacochère#83,246pentathlon#83,241racialiste#83,300

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list