relique

\ʁə.lik\

/\ʁə.lik\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“relique” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #24,358. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,358
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
10
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ce qui reste d’un saint, d’un martyr, voire de Jésus-Christ lui-même, après sa mort.

Corpus desk

Index FR-relique · relique · French

relique · rank #24,358 · 9 variants · 10 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,358
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 10 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH regorge

Nearest frequency peer: regorge (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « relique »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « relique » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

relique vs relire
71% similar
relique vs reliure
71% similar
relique vs révoqué
43% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for relique
PropertyValue
Headwordrelique
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁə.lik\
Letters7
Frequency rank#24,358
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs10
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « relique »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.reliquese place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « regorge » (#24,357), « remontées » (#24,360), « recto » (#24,355). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « relique » est au #24,358. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around relique (IPA \ʁə.lik\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #24,358 among 5,742 “R” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for relique, with forms such as "erlique", "reilque", and "reliqeu". 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 10 confusable-pair relationships, "relire", "reliure", "révoqué", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is relique, spelled R-E-L-I-Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui reste d’un saint, d’un martyr, voire de Jésus-Christ lui-même, après sa mort.
  2. 2
    Ce qui reste d’une personne importante après sa mort, soit le corps entier, soit une partie du corps, soit même ce qui lui a appartenu, qui a été à son usage, et qui est gardé en souvenir.
  3. 3
    Quelque chose de précieux que l’on garde en souvenir.
  4. 4
    Dernier descendant d’une espèce presque disparue ; fossile vivant.
  5. 5
    Témoin d’une époque ancienne, d’un climat passé.
  6. 6
    Chose qui appartient au passé ou à une époque révolue.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le vol des choses consacrées à Dieu était un sacrilège, parce que ce vol renfermait une profanation de choses saintes : tel était le vol des calices, ciboires, reliques, images et même des troncs d’église.
  2. En 1708, le deuxième dimanche de Carême, les reliques de sainte Gaudence, envoyées de Rome pour la paroisse d’Hauteville, ont été enchâssées dans un reliquaire de bois doré dans l'église de cette ville par M. le doyen de Rethel avec solennité.

This word in other languages

relic(English)reliquia(Español)Reliquie(Deutsch)relíquia(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • erlique
  • reilque
  • reliqeu
  • reliqque
  • reliuqe
  • rellique
  • relqiue
  • rleique
  • rrelique

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of relique - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

erlique2reilque2reliqeu2reliqque1reliuqe2rellique1relqiue2rleique2
Edit distance from "relique"

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 "relique"?
"relique" is spelled R-E-L-I-Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁə.lik\.
What does "relique" mean?
As a noun, "relique" means: Ce qui reste d’un saint, d’un martyr, voire de Jésus-Christ lui-même, après sa mort.
What words are commonly confused with "relique"?
"relique" is commonly confused with "relire", "reliure", "révoqué". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "relique"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "relique" is \ʁə.lik\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "relique" come from?
"relique" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "relique", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

regorge#24,357quittée#24,349risquée#24,368Rodrigo#24,370

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Rocard9 variantsruches9 variantsrégies9 variantsponeys9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list