spéculum
\spe.ky.lɔm\
The verdict
“spéculum” is an uncommon French word, ranked #94,293 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #94,293
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Instrument propre à ouvrir, à dilater l’entrée de certaines cavités du corps humain et à en réfléchir l’intérieur au moyen de surfaces polies formant un miroir.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | spéculum |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \spe.ky.lɔm\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #94,293 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “spéculum” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for spéculum is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \spe.ky.lɔm\. Corpus data places it at rank #94,293 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for spéculum in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is spéculum, spelled S-P-É-C-U-L-U-M.
Definition
- 1Instrument propre à ouvrir, à dilater l’entrée de certaines cavités du corps humain et à en réfléchir l’intérieur au moyen de surfaces polies formant un miroir.
- 2Zone du corps d’un animal qui contraste beaucoup avec les couleurs voisines.
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
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Using “spéculum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-P-É-C-U-L-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \spe.ky.lɔm\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.