semi-voyelle

\sə.mi.vwa.jɛl\

/\sə.mi.vwa.jɛl\/ noun

The verdict

“semi-voyelle” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Glide. Son phonétiquement intermédiaire entre les voyelles et les consonnes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-semi-voyelle · semi-voyelle · French

semi-voyelle · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for semi-voyelle
PropertyValue
Headwordsemi-voyelle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sə.mi.vwa.jɛl\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « semi-voyelle » en français

semi-voyellesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

semi-voyelle is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \sə.mi.vwa.jɛl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

semi-voyelle has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is semi-voyelle, spelled S-E-M-I---V-O-Y-E-L-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Glide. Son phonétiquement intermédiaire entre les voyelles et les consonnes.
  2. 2
    Glide phonologiquement vocalique. Voyelle non syllabique, formant une diphtongue avec une voyelle syllabique, avec un comportement plus proche de celui d’une consonne que de celui d’une voyelle.

Synonyms

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "semi-voyelle"?
"semi-voyelle" is spelled S-E-M-I---V-O-Y-E-L-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sə.mi.vwa.jɛl\.
What does "semi-voyelle" mean?
As a noun, "semi-voyelle" means: Glide. Son phonétiquement intermédiaire entre les voyelles et les consonnes.
How do you pronounce "semi-voyelle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "semi-voyelle" is \sə.mi.vwa.jɛl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "semi-voyelle" come from?
"semi-voyelle" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list