rapière

\ʁa.pjɛʁ\

/\ʁa.pjɛʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“rapière” is an uncommon French word, ranked #90,099 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#90,099
frequency rank, French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Épée longue et fine, à garde filiforme ou hémisphérique.

Key facts for rapière
PropertyValue
Headwordrapière
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁa.pjɛʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#90,099
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “rapière” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). rapière lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for rapière is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʁa.pjɛʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #90,099 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for rapière, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is rapière, spelled R-A-P-I-È-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Épée longue et fine, à garde filiforme ou hémisphérique.
  2. 2
    Meuble représentant l’arme du même nom dans les armoiries. Cette arme est plus présente en héraldique espagnole qu’en française. Elle se distingue de l’épée par la finesse de sa lame. À rapprocher de badelaire, coutelas, couteau, cimeterre, épée, kriss et sabre.
  3. 3
    Couteau (en tant qu’arme).

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

How do you spell "rapière"?
"rapière" is spelled R-A-P-I-È-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁa.pjɛʁ\.
What does "rapière" mean?
As a noun, "rapière" means: Épée longue et fine, à garde filiforme ou hémisphérique.
How do you pronounce "rapière"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rapière" is \ʁa.pjɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rapière" come from?
"rapière" 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.

Using “rapière”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is R-A-P-I-È-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʁa.pjɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list