rébarbatif

\ʁe.baʁ.ba.tif\

/\ʁe.baʁ.ba.tif\/ adj

The verdict

“rébarbatif” is uncommon French (frequency #73,523 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,523
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qualifie une personne peu engageante.

Corpus desk

Index FR-rebarbatif · rébarbatif · French

rébarbatif · rank #73,523 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,523
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH réarmer

Nearest frequency peer: réarmer (-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 « rébarbatif »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rébarbatif
PropertyValue
Headwordrébarbatif
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ʁe.baʁ.ba.tif\
Letters10
Frequency rank#73,523
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « rébarbatif » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).rébarbatiftombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « réarmer » (#73,522), « réconcilient » (#73,524), « réagiront » (#73,521). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « rébarbatif » est au #73,523. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rébarbatif is uncommon French at frequency #73,523 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ʁe.baʁ.ba.tif\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

rébarbatif has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is rébarbatif, spelled R-É-B-A-R-B-A-T-I-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qualifie une personne peu engageante.
  2. 2
    Ennuyeux ; sans attraits.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il n’avait pas l’air rébarbatif de ces graves personnages qui ne rient jamais, par principe, et dont la nullité se couvre d’un masque sérieux.
  2. […] ; il me semble n’y avoir vu encore que des visages effarouchés ou rébarbatifs. Peut-être aussi les Parisiens ont-ils peur de l’orage.

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 "rébarbatif"?
"rébarbatif" is spelled R-É-B-A-R-B-A-T-I-F. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁe.baʁ.ba.tif\.
What does "rébarbatif" mean?
As an adjective, "rébarbatif" means: Qualifie une personne peu engageante.
How do you pronounce "rébarbatif"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rébarbatif" is \ʁe.baʁ.ba.tif\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rébarbatif" come from?
"rébarbatif" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rébarbatif", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list