pressentir

\pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\

/\pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“pressentir” is uncommon French (frequency #80,533 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#80,533
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prévoir confusément quelque chose par un sentiment non raisonné.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pressentir · pressentir · French

pressentir · rank #80,533 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #80,533
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH prats

Nearest frequency peer: prats (-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 « pressentir »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for pressentir
PropertyValue
Headwordpressentir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\
Letters10
Frequency rank#80,533
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « pressentir » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.pressentirtombe 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: « prats » (#80,532), « pressurisé » (#80,534), « pourfendeurs » (#80,531). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pressentir » est au #80,533. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

pressentir is uncommon French at frequency #80,533 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for pressentir in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is pressentir, spelled P-R-E-S-S-E-N-T-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prévoir confusément quelque chose par un sentiment non raisonné.
  2. 2
    Entrevoir, deviner.
  3. 3
    Sonder, tâcher de découvrir les dispositions, les sentiments de quelqu’un sur quelque chose.
  4. 4
    Se renseigner sur les intentions de quelqu'un auquel on envisage de confier des responsabilités.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Giselle ! cria le comte d’une voix angoissée, messieurs, excusez-moi, j’ai peur, je pressens quelque malheur.
  2. Quand Olivier Émery était au fond du trou comme aujourd'hui, il n'avait plus aucun espoir et pressentait que tout était joué. Téléphoner à FIP ne servirait plus à rien, aucun réconfort ne lui parviendrait, […].

This word in other languages

presentir(Español)ahnen(Deutsch)pressentir(Português)

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 "pressentir"?
"pressentir" is spelled P-R-E-S-S-E-N-T-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\.
What does "pressentir" mean?
As a verb, "pressentir" means: Prévoir confusément quelque chose par un sentiment non raisonné.
How do you pronounce "pressentir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pressentir" is \pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pressentir" come from?
"pressentir" 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 "pressentir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

pressurisé#80,534prodiguant#80,537prophétisé#80,543playground#80,520

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list