spiritus

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“spiritus” is uncommon French (frequency #61,158 among 394,209 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,158
frequency rank, French
394,209
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Souffle, vent.

Key facts for spiritus
PropertyValue
Headwordspiritus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#61,158
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “spiritus” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). spiritus lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

spiritus is uncommon French at frequency #61,158 among 394,209 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 10 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for spiritus, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is spiritus, spelled S-P-I-R-I-T-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Souffle, vent.
  2. 2
    Parfum, exhalaison, émanation, odeur, flatuosité.
  3. 3
    Air, atmosphère.
  4. 4
    Air respiré, souffle de la respiration, haleine, respiration.
  5. 5
    Souffle vital, principe de la vie, vie.
  6. 6
    Esprit, sentiment, cœur.
  7. 7
    Souffle créateur, inspiration (poétique, prophétique).
  8. 8
    Esprit (rude ou doux).
  9. 9
    Aspiration, ton de la voix, son de la voix, division du temps fixé par la respiration, mesure.
  10. 10
    (Théologie) Esprit.

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 "spiritus"?
"spiritus" is spelled S-P-I-R-I-T-U-S.
What does "spiritus" mean?
As a noun, "spiritus" means: Souffle, vent.
What language does "spiritus" come from?
"spiritus" 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.

Using “spiritus”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is S-P-I-R-I-T-U-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Other uncommon French words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list