poussoir

\pu.swaʁ\

/\pu.swaʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“poussoir” is uncommon French (frequency #71,814 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#71,814
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pièce destinée à transmettre une poussée, en particulier pour commander l’ouverture ou la fermeture d’une soupape.

Corpus desk

Index FR-poussoir · poussoir · French

poussoir · rank #71,814 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #71,814
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH Potvin

Nearest frequency peer: Potvin (-2 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 « poussoir »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for poussoir
PropertyValue
Headwordpoussoir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pu.swaʁ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#71,814
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « poussoir » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).poussoirtombe 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: « Potvin » (#71,812), « pressentis » (#71,816), « Potomac » (#71,811). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « poussoir » est au #71,814. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

poussoir is uncommon French at frequency #71,814 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \pu.swaʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for poussoir in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

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 poussoir, spelled P-O-U-S-S-O-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pièce destinée à transmettre une poussée, en particulier pour commander l’ouverture ou la fermeture d’une soupape.
  2. 2
    Bouton sur lequel on appuie pour enclencher ou interrompre un fonctionnement.
  3. 3
    Cylindre terminé par un bouton qu’on pousse pour activer une fonction d’une montre.
  4. 4
    Tout instrument servant à pousser hors de l’œsophage ou d’ailleurs les corps étrangers.
  5. 5
    Appareil servant à embosser la chair dans un boyau.
  6. 6
    Outil emmanché destiné à repousser la neige sur le sol.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Une dérivation du circuit de lubrification du moteur alimente sous pression et de façon continue l'intérieur du poussoir. Au repos, lorsque le poussoir repose sur le dos de la came, l'huile sous pression ouvre le clapet et remplit la chambre.
  2. Dorgères écrasa son pouce sur le poussoir.

This word in other languages

tappet(English)Schneeschaufel(Deutsch)

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 "poussoir"?
"poussoir" is spelled P-O-U-S-S-O-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pu.swaʁ\.
What does "poussoir" mean?
As a noun, "poussoir" means: Pièce destinée à transmettre une poussée, en particulier pour commander l’ouverture ou la fermeture d’une soupape.
How do you pronounce "poussoir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "poussoir" is \pu.swaʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "poussoir" come from?
"poussoir" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "poussoir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

politica#71,804policies#71,803pluviale#71,797puériles#71,835

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list