récalcitrant
The verdict
“récalcitrant” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #48,174 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #48,174
- frequency rank, French
- 12
- letters
- 20
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui résiste avec opiniâtreté ; qui ne se laisse pas faire.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | récalcitrant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #48,174 |
| Misspellings tracked | 20 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “récalcitrant” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for récalcitrant is 12 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #48,174 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 20 likely wrong-spelling variants for récalcitrant, with forms such as "rcéalcitrant", "recalcitrant", and "rrécalcitrant". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "récalcitrants", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is récalcitrant, spelled R-É-C-A-L-C-I-T-R-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Qui résiste avec opiniâtreté ; qui ne se laisse pas faire.
- 2Qui résiste, qu'on ne peut agencer à son gré, en parlant d'une chose.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: rcéalcitrant,recalcitrant,rrécalcitrant,réaclcitrant,récaclitrant,récalccitrant,récalcirtant,récalcitarnt,récalcitrannt,récalcitrantt,récalcitratn,récalcitrnat,récalcitrrant,récalcittrant,récalctirant,récalictrant,récallcitrant,réccalcitrant,réclacitrant,ércalcitrant
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of récalcitrant - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "récalcitrant"?
What does "récalcitrant" mean?
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Using “récalcitrant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is R-É-C-A-L-C-I-T-R-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “récalcitrants” - see the side-by-side comparison. récalcitrant vs récalcitrants
- 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.