serpentine

\sɛʁ.pɑ̃.tin\

/\sɛʁ.pɑ̃.tin\/ noun

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

The verdict

“serpentine” is uncommon French (frequency #52,342 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,342
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Minéral vert dont le chatoiement rappelle la peau d'un serpent. Elle constitue la majeure partie de la roche nommée serpentinite.

Corpus desk

Index FR-serpentine · serpentine · French

serpentine · rank #52,342 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,342
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH septime

Nearest frequency peer: septime (-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 « serpentine »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for serpentine
PropertyValue
Headwordserpentine
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sɛʁ.pɑ̃.tin\
Letters10
Frequency rank#52,342
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « serpentine » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).serpentinetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « septime » (#52,341), « serpillière » (#52,343), « sensuels » (#52,339). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « serpentine » est au #52,342. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

serpentine is uncommon French at frequency #52,342 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \sɛʁ.pɑ̃.tin\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 10 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for serpentine, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, 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 spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is serpentine, spelled S-E-R-P-E-N-T-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Minéral vert dont le chatoiement rappelle la peau d'un serpent. Elle constitue la majeure partie de la roche nommée serpentinite.
  2. 2
    Pierre fine tachetée comme la peau d’un serpent.
  3. 3
    Marbre serpentin.
  4. 4
    Plante exotique nommée aussi ophioxyle dont le bois, appelé bois de serpent, était employé autrefois en médecine comme sudorifique et fébrifuge et passait pour guérir des morsures de certains serpents. (Note : il s'agit probablement de Rauvolfia serpentina, dont l'ancien nom était Ophioxylon serpentinum .)
  5. 5
    Nom usuel de Echium vulgare.
  6. 6
    Figure de manège au tracé ondulant.
  7. 7
    Courbe algébrique du 3ᵉ degré qui coupent leur asymptote, anciennement nommée anguinée.
  8. 8
    Canon en usage au xvᵉ et xviᵉ siècle. Il existe aussi une demie-serpentine, plus petite.
  9. 9
    Sorte de guipure.
  10. 10
    Ancien mécanisme de mise à feu des fusils utilisant une mèche, platine à mèche.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Un vase, une tasse de serpentine.
  2. On travaille cette serpentine sous mille formes diverses, et particulièrement sous celles de boîtes à thé, de pots à crème, de tasses, de tabatières, etc.

This word in other languages

serpentine(English)serpentina(Español)

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 "serpentine"?
"serpentine" is spelled S-E-R-P-E-N-T-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛʁ.pɑ̃.tin\.
What does "serpentine" mean?
As a noun, "serpentine" means: Minéral vert dont le chatoiement rappelle la peau d'un serpent. Elle constitue la majeure partie de la roche nommée serpentinite.
How do you pronounce "serpentine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "serpentine" is \sɛʁ.pɑ̃.tin\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "serpentine" come from?
"serpentine" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "serpentine", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

secourisme#52,338sommations#52,354résorption#52,329successive#52,370

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list