subliminal

\sy.bli.mi.nal\

/\sy.bli.mi.nal\/ adj

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

The verdict

“subliminal” is uncommon French (frequency #51,156 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,156
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est perçu par le destinataire (la cible du message), mais à un niveau inconscient.

Corpus desk

Index FR-subliminal · subliminal · French

subliminal · rank #51,156 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,156
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH Styx

Nearest frequency peer: Styx (-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 « subliminal »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for subliminal
PropertyValue
Headwordsubliminal
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\sy.bli.mi.nal\
Letters10
Frequency rank#51,156
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « subliminal » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).subliminaltombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Styx » (#51,155), « subordonnées » (#51,157), « stupid » (#51,154). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « subliminal » est au #51,156. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

subliminal is uncommon French at frequency #51,156 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \sy.bli.mi.nal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for subliminal, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is subliminal, spelled S-U-B-L-I-M-I-N-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est perçu par le destinataire (la cible du message), mais à un niveau inconscient.
  2. 2
    Qualifie un stimulus (message audio ou image) subreptice, conçu pour être enregistré par le cerveau, sans toutefois passer par le contrôle de l’intelligence, et qui peut ainsi influencer le destinataire à son insu.
  3. 3
    Qualifie le sens implicite d’une parole qui est parfaitement comprise par l’auditeur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Certains de ces mots étaient sémantiquement liés au premier mot présenté de façon subliminale (l’amorçage); ainsi les sujets pouvaient être exposés de façon subliminale à un mot comme pea (pois) et devaient dire ensuite si les lettres p-o-d formaient un mot. (...) Les résultats révélèrent l’influence de l’amorçage subliminal sur la pensée: les sujets reco…
  2. L’image subliminale au cinéma est celle qu’on n’a pas le temps de voir mais que le cerveau retient tout de même.

Synonyms

infraliminairesubliminaire

This word in other languages

subliminal(English)unterschwellig(Deutsch)

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 "subliminal"?
"subliminal" is spelled S-U-B-L-I-M-I-N-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is \sy.bli.mi.nal\.
What does "subliminal" mean?
As an adjective, "subliminal" means: Qui est perçu par le destinataire (la cible du message), mais à un niveau inconscient.
How do you pronounce "subliminal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "subliminal" is \sy.bli.mi.nal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "subliminal" come from?
"subliminal" 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 "subliminal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

subsistant#51,158superflues#51,159striptease#51,151surnommait#51,161

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list