subalterne

\sy.bal.tɛʁn\

/\sy.bal.tɛʁn\/ adj

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

The verdict

“subalterne” has 15 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #41,023. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#41,023
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords
15
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est subordonné, inférieur, secondaire.

Corpus desk

Index FR-subalterne · subalterne · French

subalterne · rank #41,023 · 15 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #41,023
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH substantielle…

Nearest frequency peer: substantiellement (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « subalterne »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « subalterne » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

subalterne vs subalternes
91% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for subalterne
PropertyValue
Headwordsubalterne
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\sy.bal.tɛʁn\
Letters10
Frequency rank#41,023
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « subalterne »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).subalternese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « substantiellement » (#41,024), « stups » (#41,021), « suceur » (#41,025). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « subalterne » est au #41,023. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around subalterne (IPA \sy.bal.tɛʁn\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #41,023 among 6,032 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for subalterne, with forms such as "sbualterne", "ssubalterne", and "suablterne". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "subalternes", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is subalterne, spelled S-U-B-A-L-T-E-R-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est subordonné, inférieur, secondaire.
  2. 2
    Qualifie l’esprit médiocre, borné, incapable d’initiative d’un homme.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le nombre des officiers subalternes est très considérable, leurs titres et leurs noms sont rapportés dans l'almanach impérial.
  2. Les officiers subalternes de l’ordre portaient le même costume noir, ….

Synonyms

subordonné

Antonyms

supérieur

This word in other languages

subordinate(English)subalterno(Español)subaltern(Deutsch)subalterno(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sbualterne
  • ssubalterne
  • suablterne
  • subaletrne
  • suballterne
  • subaltenre
  • subalteren
  • subalternne
  • subalterrne
  • subaltrene
  • subaltterne
  • subatlerne
  • subbalterne
  • sublaterne
  • usbalterne

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of subalterne - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

sbualterne2ssubalterne1suablterne2subaletrne2suballterne1subaltenre2subalteren2subalternne1
Edit distance from "subalterne"

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 "subalterne"?
"subalterne" is spelled S-U-B-A-L-T-E-R-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \sy.bal.tɛʁn\.
What does "subalterne" mean?
As an adjective, "subalterne" means: Qui est subordonné, inférieur, secondaire.
What words are commonly confused with "subalterne"?
"subalterne" is commonly confused with "subalternes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "subalterne"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "subalterne" is \sy.bal.tɛʁn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "subalterne" come from?
"subalterne" 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 "subalterne", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

suspicieux#41,029sectarisme#41,001Vénissieux#41,072ressenties#40,964

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

révoltent15 variantsvieillissante15 variantsécrivaient15 variantsésotérisme15 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list