spécieux
\spe.sjø\
The verdict
“spécieux” is uncommon French (frequency #70,229 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,229
- frequency rank, French
- 6,032
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui a une apparence de vérité et de justice, mais qui n’en a, effectivement, que l’apparence.
Corpus desk
Index FR-specieux · spécieux · French
spécieux · rank #70,229 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,229
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,032
- PHOTO-FINISH spolier
Nearest frequency peer: spolier (-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 « spécieux »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- spie
spie
29,775 corpus weight
- SPIP
SPIP
29,774 corpus weight
- spolier
spolier
29,773 corpus weight
- spécieux
spécieux
29,772 corpus weight
- sra
sra
29,771 corpus weight
- srs
srs
29,770 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « spécieux » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spécieux |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \spe.sjø\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #70,229 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « spécieux » en français
Rare enough to double-check
spécieux is uncommon French at frequency #70,229 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \spe.sjø\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui a une apparence de vérité et de justice, mais qui n’en a, effectivement, que l’apparence.".
spécieux has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is spécieux, spelled S-P-É-C-I-E-U-X.
Definition
- 1Qui a une apparence de vérité et de justice, mais qui n’en a, effectivement, que l’apparence.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how spécieux appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Cette race d’hommes d’État qui semble enfin s’éteindre, malgré sa science des apparences et une certaine spécieuse régularité de mœurs, n’est au moral que la dernière écume oubliée dans le monde moderne par le monde du régent et du duc d’Orléans.
Le soir tombait, un soir équivoque d’automne : Les belles, se pendant rêveuses à nos bras, Dirent alors des mots si spécieux, tout bas, Que notre âme depuis ce temps tremble et s’étonne.
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 "spécieux"?
What does "spécieux" mean?
How do you pronounce "spécieux"?
What language does "spécieux" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "spécieux", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).