somnolent

\sɔm.nɔ.lɑ̃\

/\sɔm.nɔ.lɑ̃\/ adj

The verdict

“somnolent” is uncommon French (frequency #84,324 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,324
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui somnole.

Corpus desk

Index FR-somnolent · somnolent · French

somnolent · rank #84,324 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,324
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH SNE

Nearest frequency peer: SNE (-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 « somnolent »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for somnolent
PropertyValue
Headwordsomnolent
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\sɔm.nɔ.lɑ̃\
Letters9
Frequency rank#84,324
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « somnolent » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.somnolenttombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « SNE » (#84,323), « sonars » (#84,325), « SMTP » (#84,322). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « somnolent » est au #84,324. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

somnolent is uncommon French at frequency #84,324 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \sɔm.nɔ.lɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for somnolent in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

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 somnolent, spelled S-O-M-N-O-L-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui somnole.
  2. 2
    Qui tient de la somnolence.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il buvait beaucoup, c'était vrai, de la bière, des demis et des demis, qui le rendaient somnolent.
  2. Mais dans les 24-36 heures qui suivirent l’administration du visnagan, les rats se sont montrés déprimés, somnolents, présentant une anorexie et un retard évident du transit intestinal et, parfois, une chromodacryorrhée et une sécrétion nasale hémorragique.

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 "somnolent"?
"somnolent" is spelled S-O-M-N-O-L-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \sɔm.nɔ.lɑ̃\.
What does "somnolent" mean?
As an adjective, "somnolent" means: Qui somnole.
How do you pronounce "somnolent"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "somnolent" is \sɔm.nɔ.lɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "somnolent" come from?
"somnolent" 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 "somnolent", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list