rétif
\ʁe.tif\
The verdict
“rétif” is uncommon French (frequency #70,191 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,191
- frequency rank, French
- 5,742
- “R” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui s’arrête ou qui recule au lieu d’avancer. Se dit généralement au propre pour les chevaux et autres montures.
Corpus desk
Index FR-retif · rétif · French
rétif · rank #70,191 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,191
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,742
- PHOTO-FINISH résistez
Nearest frequency peer: résistez (-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 « rétif »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- réintégrée
réintégrée
29,814 corpus weight
- réjouira
réjouira
29,813 corpus weight
- répondraient
répondraient
29,812 corpus weight
- résistez
résistez
29,811 corpus weight
- rétif
rétif
29,810 corpus weight
- rétorqua
rétorqua
29,809 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « rétif » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rétif |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ʁe.tif\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #70,191 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « rétif » en français
Rare enough to double-check
rétif is uncommon French at frequency #70,191 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ʁe.tif\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for rétif in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
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 rétif, spelled R-É-T-I-F.
Definition
- 1Qui s’arrête ou qui recule au lieu d’avancer. Se dit généralement au propre pour les chevaux et autres montures.
- 2Qui est indocile, difficile à conduire, à persuader.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how rétif appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Un cheval rétif.
Les mules sont ordinairement rétives et quinteuses.
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "rétif", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).