spoutnik

\sput.nik\

/\sput.nik\/ noun

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

The verdict

“spoutnik” is uncommon French (frequency #61,908 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,908
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Série de satellites lancés par l’URSS au tout début de la conquête de l’espace et qui fit entrer l’Homme dans l’ère spatiale.

Corpus desk

Index FR-spoutnik · spoutnik · French

spoutnik · rank #61,908 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,908
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH souscris

Nearest frequency peer: souscris (-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 « spoutnik »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for spoutnik
PropertyValue
Headwordspoutnik
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\sput.nik\
Letters8
Frequency rank#61,908
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « spoutnik » en français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « souscris » (#61,907), « sprinteurs » (#61,909), « souricière » (#61,906). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « spoutnik » est au #61,908. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

spoutnik is uncommon French at frequency #61,908 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \sput.nik\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

spoutnik has no tracked misspelling variants, 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.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is spoutnik, spelled S-P-O-U-T-N-I-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Série de satellites lancés par l’URSS au tout début de la conquête de l’espace et qui fit entrer l’Homme dans l’ère spatiale.
  2. 2
    Chose inattendue.
  3. 3
    Virophage spoutnik.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Spoutnik 1 a été le premier satellite artificiel de la Terre, mis sur orbite le 4 octobre 1957, par la fusée R-7.
  2. Ce nouveau départ dans la vie fut préparé avec autant de soin que le placement d’un spoutnik sur son orbite, et j’allais bientôt découvrir que j’entrais, en effet, dans un autre univers.

This word in other languages

sputnik(English)

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 "spoutnik"?
"spoutnik" is spelled S-P-O-U-T-N-I-K. The IPA pronunciation is \sput.nik\.
What does "spoutnik" mean?
As a noun, "spoutnik" means: Série de satellites lancés par l’URSS au tout début de la conquête de l’espace et qui fit entrer l’Homme dans l’ère spatiale.
How do you pronounce "spoutnik"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "spoutnik" is \sput.nik\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "spoutnik" come from?
"spoutnik" 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 "spoutnik", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

souscris#61,907soufflés#61,904soufflez#61,903soudoyer#61,902

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list