spirou

/\spi.ˈʀu\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#27,627

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

3

similar word pairs

spirou is aFrenchnoun. It means: Écureuil. Pronounced \spi.ˈʀu\. Often confused with sirop and spire.

Key facts for spirou
PropertyValue
Headwordspirou
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\spi.ˈʀu\
Letters6
Frequency rank#27,627
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of spirou in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for spirou is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \spi.ˈʀu\. Corpus data places it at rank #27,627 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.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for spirou, with forms such as "psirou", "siprou", and "spioru". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "sirop", "spire", "spirit", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is spirou, spelled S-P-I-R-O-U, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Écureuil.
  2. 2
    Enfant turbulent.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: psirou,siprou,spioru,spirrou,spiruo,sppirou,spriou,sspirou

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for spirou

Misspelling Variants of "spirou"

psirou6siprou6spioru6spirrou7spiruo6sppirou7spriou6sspirou7
Misspelling Variants of "spirou"

Frequency rank: #27,627 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "spirou"?
"spirou" is spelled S-P-I-R-O-U. The IPA pronunciation is \spi.ˈʀu\.
What does "spirou" mean?
As a noun, "spirou" means: Écureuil.
What words are commonly confused with "spirou"?
"spirou" is commonly confused with "sirop", "spire", "spirit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "spirou"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spirou" is \spi.ˈʀu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spirou" come from?
"spirou" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter S in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.