shellac

noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Laque issue de la sécrétion d’une cochenille asiatique, Kerria lacca, servant de verni dans plusieurs industries, notamment agro-alimentaire et pharmaceutique.

Corpus desk

Index FR-shellac · shellac · French

shellac · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 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 shellac
PropertyValue
Headwordshellac
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « shellac » en français

shellacreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

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

Rare enough to double-check

shellac is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Laque issue de la sécrétion d’une cochenille asiatique, Kerria lacca, servant de verni dans plusieurs industries, notamment agro-alimentaire et pharmaceutique.".

Zero misspellings are on record for shellac in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is shellac, spelled S-H-E-L-L-A-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    Laque issue de la sécrétion d’une cochenille asiatique, Kerria lacca, servant de verni dans plusieurs industries, notamment agro-alimentaire et pharmaceutique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Avant d’embarquer sur les porte-conteneurs, avocats, ananas, papayes ou mangues sont souvent enduits de shellac.

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 "shellac"?
"shellac" is spelled S-H-E-L-L-A-C.
What does "shellac" mean?
As a noun, "shellac" means: Laque issue de la sécrétion d’une cochenille asiatique, Kerria lacca, servant de verni dans plusieurs industries, notamment agro-alimentaire et pharmaceutique.
What language does "shellac" come from?
"shellac" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list