punitif
\py.ni.tif\
The verdict
“punitif” is uncommon French (frequency #77,832 among 6,826 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #77,832
- frequency rank, French
- 6,826
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Relatif à la punition, qui consiste à punir l'auteur d'un fait.
Corpus desk
Index FR-punitif · punitif · French
punitif · rank #77,832 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #77,832
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,826
- PHOTO-FINISH prêteront
Nearest frequency peer: prêteront (-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 « punitif »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- prétorienne
prétorienne
22,172 corpus weight
- prévisionne…
prévisionnels
22,171 corpus weight
- prêteront
prêteront
22,170 corpus weight
- punitif
punitif
22,169 corpus weight
- putting
putting
22,168 corpus weight
- pâquerette
pâquerette
22,167 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « punitif » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | punitif |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \py.ni.tif\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #77,832 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « punitif » en français
Rare enough to double-check
punitif is uncommon French at frequency #77,832 among 6,826 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \py.ni.tif\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for punitif in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is punitif, spelled P-U-N-I-T-I-F.
Definition
- 1Relatif à la punition, qui consiste à punir l'auteur d'un fait.
- 2Évocateur de représailles contre le groupe supposé d'appartenance de l'auteur d'une faute, que la faute soit réelle ou pas.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how punitif appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dès lors, la peine capitale doit-elle faire partie de l’arsenal punitif d’un État ?
La supériorité militaire écrasante de l’hyperpuissance américaine lui permet certes d’organiser ses expéditions sans l’aide de personne. Mais ces opérations punitives ne peuvent fonder un nouvel ordre du monde.
This word in other languages
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "punitif", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).