stigma

\stiɡ.ma\

/\stiɡ.ma\/ noun

The verdict

“stigma” is uncommon French (frequency #70,235 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,235
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ϛ, Ϛ, ancienne ligature de l’alphabet grec notant le groupe στ (sigma-tau), qui ne s’est conservée dans l’écriture actuelle que pour la numération alphabétique milésienne où elle vaut 6.

Corpus desk

Index FR-stigma · stigma · French

stigma · rank #70,235 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,235
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH stony

Nearest frequency peer: stony (+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 « stigma »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for stigma
PropertyValue
Headwordstigma
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\stiɡ.ma\
Letters6
Frequency rank#70,235
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « stigma » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).stigmatombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « stony » (#70,236), « stabilisent » (#70,233), « SST » (#70,232). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « stigma » est au #70,235. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

stigma is uncommon French at frequency #70,235 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \stiɡ.ma\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "ϛ, Ϛ, ancienne ligature de l’alphabet grec notant le groupe στ (sigma-tau), qui ne s’est conservée dans l’écriture actuelle que pour la numération alphabétique milésienne où elle vaut 6.".

stigma has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, 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 stigma, spelled S-T-I-G-M-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    ϛ, Ϛ, ancienne ligature de l’alphabet grec notant le groupe στ (sigma-tau), qui ne s’est conservée dans l’écriture actuelle que pour la numération alphabétique milésienne où elle vaut 6.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Un caillot sanguin, pas plus gros qu’un rubis coagulait sur son articulation, tout autour d’un stigma blafard, au contour ovoïdal, marquant l’incrustation du Zahir.

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 "stigma"?
"stigma" is spelled S-T-I-G-M-A. The IPA pronunciation is \stiɡ.ma\.
What does "stigma" mean?
As a noun, "stigma" means: ϛ, Ϛ, ancienne ligature de l’alphabet grec notant le groupe στ (sigma-tau), qui ne s’est conservée dans l’écriture actuelle que pour la numération alphabétique milésienne où elle vaut 6.
How do you pronounce "stigma"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stigma" is \stiɡ.ma\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "stigma" come from?
"stigma" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "stigma", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list