preterite
\ˈprɛ.tə.rɪt\
The verdict
“preterite” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Du passé.
Corpus desk
Index FR-preterite · preterite · French
preterite · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | preterite |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ˈprɛ.tə.rɪt\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « preterite » en français
Rare enough to double-check
preterite is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ˈprɛ.tə.rɪt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Du passé.".
preterite doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is preterite, spelled P-R-E-T-E-R-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1Du passé.
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.