private

/\pʁiˈvaːtə\/ adj

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#18,834

in French word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

12

similar word pairs

private is anFrenchadj. It means: Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat. Pronounced \pʁiˈvaːtə\. Often confused with privé and privée.

Key facts for private
PropertyValue
Headwordprivate
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\pʁiˈvaːtə\
Letters7
Frequency rank#18,834
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of private in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for private is 7 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pʁiˈvaːtə\. Corpus data places it at rank #18,834 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for private, with forms such as "pirvate", "pprivate", and "priavte". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "privé", "privée", "privatisé", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is private, spelled P-R-I-V-A-T-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat.
  2. 2
    Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison forte de privat.
  3. 3
    Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison mixte de privat.
  4. 4
    Accusatif neutre singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat.
  5. 5
    Accusatif pluriel (à tous les genres) de la déclinaison forte de privat.
  6. 6
    Nominatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat.
  7. 7
    Nominatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison forte de privat.
  8. 8
    Nominatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison mixte de privat.
  9. 9
    Nominatif masculin singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat.
  10. 10
    Nominatif neutre singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat.
  11. 11
    Nominatif pluriel (à tous les genres) de la déclinaison forte de privat.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: pirvate,pprivate,priavte,privaet,privatte,privtae,privvate,prrivate,prviate,rpivate

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for private

Misspelling Variants of "private"

pirvate7pprivate8priavte7privaet7privatte8privtae7privvate8prrivate8
Misspelling Variants of "private"

Frequency rank: #18,834 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "private"?
"private" is spelled P-R-I-V-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁiˈvaːtə\.
What does "private" mean?
As an adj, "private" means: Accusatif féminin singulier de la déclinaison faible de privat.
What words are commonly confused with "private"?
"private" is commonly confused with "privé", "privée", "privatisé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "private"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "private" is \pʁiˈvaːtə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "private" come from?
"private" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.