silène

\si.lɛn\

/\si.lɛn\/ noun

The verdict

“silène” is uncommon French (frequency #84,315 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,315
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Satyre âgé, fils ou petit-fils de Silène.

Corpus desk

Index FR-silene · silène · French

silène · rank #84,315 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,315
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH Sigourney

Nearest frequency peer: Sigourney (-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 « silène »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for silène
PropertyValue
Headwordsilène
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\si.lɛn\
Letters6
Frequency rank#84,315
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « silène » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.silènetombe 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: « Sigourney » (#84,314), « sitar » (#84,316), « Siffredi » (#84,313). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « silène » est au #84,315. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

silène is uncommon French at frequency #84,315 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \si.lɛn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for silène, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file 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 silène, spelled S-I-L-È-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Satyre âgé, fils ou petit-fils de Silène.
  2. 2
    Plante herbacée, annuelle ou vivace, du genre Silene, appartenant à la famille des Caryophyllacées.
  3. 3
    Nom vulgaire du Satyrus circe, papillon de la famille des Satyridés.
  4. 4
    Insecte lépidoptère (papillon) de la famille des nymphalidés, dont les ailes sont de couleur brun foncé et rayées d’une bande blanc crème.
  5. 5
    Ouanderou, singe de nom scientifique Macacus silenus.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les silènes faisaient partie du cortège de Bacchus.
  2. On notera, enfin, que la plante connue des Anciens sous le nom d’Aphrodes porte à présent le nom de Silène (Silène inflata), image du satyre âgé, ventru mais plein de sagesse…

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); 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 "silène"?
"silène" is spelled S-I-L-È-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \si.lɛn\.
What does "silène" mean?
As a noun, "silène" means: Satyre âgé, fils ou petit-fils de Silène.
How do you pronounce "silène"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "silène" is \si.lɛn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "silène" come from?
"silène" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "silène", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list