ressac

\ʁə.sak\

/\ʁə.sak\/ noun

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

The verdict

“ressac” is uncommon French (frequency #61,092 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,092
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Retour violent des vagues vers le large, après qu’elles ont frappé avec impétuosité une terre, un obstacle.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ressac · ressac · French

ressac · rank #61,092 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,092
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH respirable

Nearest frequency peer: respirable (-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 « ressac »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ressac
PropertyValue
Headwordressac
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁə.sak\
Letters6
Frequency rank#61,092
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ressac » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.ressactombe 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: « respirable » (#61,091), « retirerait » (#61,093), « resister » (#61,090). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « ressac » est au #61,092. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ressac is uncommon French at frequency #61,092 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʁə.sak\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

ressac has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is ressac, spelled R-E-S-S-A-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Retour violent des vagues vers le large, après qu’elles ont frappé avec impétuosité une terre, un obstacle.
  2. 2
    Retour brutal d’une émotion refoulée.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le rivage était semé d’une innombrable quantité de coquilles bivalves, brisées par le ressac.
  2. Le ressac était trop fort sur la plage de galets et aurait vite mis en pièces mon mince canot de toile.

This word in other languages

backwash(English)resaca(Español)Brandung(Deutsch)

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 "ressac"?
"ressac" is spelled R-E-S-S-A-C. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁə.sak\.
What does "ressac" mean?
As a noun, "ressac" means: Retour violent des vagues vers le large, après qu’elles ont frappé avec impétuosité une terre, un obstacle.
How do you pronounce "ressac"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ressac" is \ʁə.sak\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ressac" come from?
"ressac" 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 "ressac", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ripper#61,101rongés#61,106pâleur#61,069Puebla#61,065

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list