princeps

\pʁɛ̃.sɛps\

/\pʁɛ̃.sɛps\/ adj

The verdict

“princeps” is uncommon French (frequency #51,673 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,673
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dans la locution édition princeps, qualifie la première édition d’un livre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-princeps · princeps · French

princeps · rank #51,673 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,673
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH preparation

Nearest frequency peer: preparation (-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 « princeps »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for princeps
PropertyValue
Headwordprinceps
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pʁɛ̃.sɛps\
Letters8
Frequency rank#51,673
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « princeps » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.princepstombe 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: « preparation » (#51,672), « professor » (#51,674), « PPs » (#51,671). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « princeps » est au #51,673. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

princeps is uncommon French at frequency #51,673 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \pʁɛ̃.sɛps\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for princeps, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is princeps, spelled P-R-I-N-C-E-P-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dans la locution édition princeps, qualifie la première édition d’un livre.
  2. 2
    Qui précède tous les autres.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. — C’étoit, s’il m’en souvient, l’ombre de Purgold dont les funestes ciseaux mordoient d’un pouce et demi sur les marges de mes aldes brochés, tandis que celle d’Heudier plongeoit impitoyablement dans un acide dévorant mon plus beau volume d’édition princeps, et l’en retiroit tout blanc ; mais j’ai de bonnes raisons de penser qu’ils sont au moins en purgat…
  2. Il est à la recherche de quelque bouquin imprimé à Amsterdam en 1570, édition princeps avec trois fautes de typographie, une à la première feuille, une à la septième, une à la dernière.

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 "princeps"?
"princeps" is spelled P-R-I-N-C-E-P-S. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɛ̃.sɛps\.
What does "princeps" mean?
As an adjective, "princeps" means: Dans la locution édition princeps, qualifie la première édition d’un livre.
How do you pronounce "princeps"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "princeps" is \pʁɛ̃.sɛps\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "princeps" come from?
"princeps" 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 "princeps", 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