pourpre
\puʁpʁ\
The verdict
“pourpre” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #17,526 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #17,526
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - D’un rouge soutenu, proche du cramoisi ou du violet. #9E0E40 #6A0DAD
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pourpre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \puʁpʁ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #17,526 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pourpre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for pourpre is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \puʁpʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #17,526 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for pourpre, with forms such as "opurpre", "porupre", and "pouprre". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "pourra", "pourri", "poutre", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is pourpre, spelled P-O-U-R-P-R-E.
Definition
- 1D’un rouge soutenu, proche du cramoisi ou du violet. #9E0E40 #6A0DAD
- 2Couleur de la robe d’un vin rouge, indiquant une meilleure maturité que la couleur grenat ; mais une maturité moindre qu’une robe de couleur rubis.
- 3→ voir de pourpre.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opurpre,porupre,pouprre,pourper,pourppre,pourprre,pourrpe,pourrpre,ppourpre,puorpre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pourpre - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "pourpre"?
What does "pourpre" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "pourpre"?
How do you pronounce "pourpre"?
What language does "pourpre" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “pourpre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-O-U-R-P-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \puʁpʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pourra” - see the side-by-side comparison. pourpre vs pourra
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.