rétrovirus

\ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.ʁys\

/\ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.ʁys\/ noun

The verdict

“rétrovirus” is uncommon French (frequency #64,761 among 5,742 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,761
frequency rank, French
5,742
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Classe de virus à ARN spécifique des eucaryotes et dont la propagation nécessite la conversion de l'ARN en ADN double brin qui lui, s'intègre dans le génome de la cellule hôte.

Corpus desk

Index FR-retrovirus · rétrovirus · French

rétrovirus · rank #64,761 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,761
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,742
  • PHOTO-FINISH répercuté

Nearest frequency peer: répercuté (-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 « rétrovirus »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rétrovirus
PropertyValue
Headwordrétrovirus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.ʁys\
Letters10
Frequency rank#64,761
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « rétrovirus » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).rétrovirustombe 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: « répercuté » (#64,760), « réussissaient » (#64,762), « réincarné » (#64,759). Parmi 5,742 lemmes en « R », « rétrovirus » est au #64,761. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rétrovirus is uncommon French at frequency #64,761 among 5,742 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.ʁys\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Classe de virus à ARN spécifique des eucaryotes et dont la propagation nécessite la conversion de l'ARN en ADN double brin qui lui, s'intègre dans le génome de la cellule hôte.".

No misspelling variants are generated for rétrovirus in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is rétrovirus, spelled R-É-T-R-O-V-I-R-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Classe de virus à ARN spécifique des eucaryotes et dont la propagation nécessite la conversion de l'ARN en ADN double brin qui lui, s'intègre dans le génome de la cellule hôte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Les rétrovirus ne sont pas tous oncogènes.

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 "rétrovirus"?
"rétrovirus" is spelled R-É-T-R-O-V-I-R-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.ʁys\.
What does "rétrovirus" mean?
As a noun, "rétrovirus" means: Classe de virus à ARN spécifique des eucaryotes et dont la propagation nécessite la conversion de l'ARN en ADN double brin qui lui, s'intègre dans le génome de la cellule hôte.
How do you pronounce "rétrovirus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rétrovirus" is \ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.ʁys\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rétrovirus" come from?
"rétrovirus" 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 "rétrovirus", 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