quaternion
\kwa.tɛʁ.njɔ̃\
The verdict
“quaternion” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nombre découvert par le mathématicien irlandais William Rowan Hamilton, et qui s’écrit sous la forme a + bi + cj + dk avec i² = j² = k² = -1 et ij = -ji = k, jk = -kj = i et ki = -ik = j.
Corpus desk
Index FR-quaternion · quaternion · French
quaternion · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "Q" 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 | quaternion |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kwa.tɛʁ.njɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « quaternion » en français
Rare enough to double-check
quaternion is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \kwa.tɛʁ.njɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for quaternion, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, 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 quaternion, spelled Q-U-A-T-E-R-N-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Nombre découvert par le mathématicien irlandais William Rowan Hamilton, et qui s’écrit sous la forme a + bi + cj + dk avec i² = j² = k² = -1 et ij = -ji = k, jk = -kj = i et ki = -ik = j.
- 2Dans un codex ou un livre, cahier composé de quatre feuilles doubles (bifeuillets), soit 8 feuilles et 16 pages.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how quaternion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
L’ensemble des quaternions, noté ℍ, constitue une extension de l’ensemble des nombres complexes, extension similaire à celle qui avait conduit de l’ensemble des nombres réels ℝ à celui des nombres complexes ℂ, et qui conduira plus tard des quaternions aux octonions, 𝕆.
Le mot cahier vient du latin quaterni, quatre à la fois, qui a donné quaternio, quaternion en français, ou cahier de 4 feuillets.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.