prevenir

\pɾe.beˈniɾ\

/\pɾe.beˈniɾ\/ verb

The verdict

“prevenir” is uncommon French (frequency #53,552 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,552
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prévenir.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prevenir · prevenir · French

prevenir · rank #53,552 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,552
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH precious

Nearest frequency peer: precious (-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 « prevenir »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for prevenir
PropertyValue
Headwordprevenir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɾe.beˈniɾ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#53,552
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « prevenir » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).prevenirtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « precious » (#53,551), « postface » (#53,550), « privas » (#53,554). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « prevenir » est au #53,552. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

prevenir is uncommon French at frequency #53,552 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \pɾe.beˈniɾ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Prévenir.".

prevenir doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is prevenir, spelled P-R-E-V-E-N-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prévenir.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. José Arcadio Buendía, cuya desaforada imaginación iba siempre más lejos que el ingenio de la naturaleza, y aun más allá del milagro y la magia, pensó que era posible servirse de aquella invención inútil para desentrañar el oro de la tierra. Melquíades, que era un hombre honrado, le previno: «Para eso no sirve».

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 "prevenir"?
"prevenir" is spelled P-R-E-V-E-N-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pɾe.beˈniɾ\.
What does "prevenir" mean?
As a verb, "prevenir" means: Prévenir.
How do you pronounce "prevenir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prevenir" is \pɾe.beˈniɾ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prevenir" come from?
"prevenir" 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 "prevenir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list