superlatif

\sy.pɛʁ.la.tif\

/\sy.pɛʁ.la.tif\/ adj

The verdict

“superlatif” is uncommon French (frequency #77,965 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,965
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui exprime la qualité, bonne ou mauvaise, portée au plus haut degré.

Corpus desk

Index FR-superlatif · superlatif · French

superlatif · rank #77,965 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,965
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH summertime

Nearest frequency peer: summertime (-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 « superlatif »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for superlatif
PropertyValue
Headwordsuperlatif
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\sy.pɛʁ.la.tif\
Letters10
Frequency rank#77,965
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « superlatif » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).superlatiftombe 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: « summertime » (#77,964), « surpassée » (#77,968), « subsistaient » (#77,961). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « superlatif » est au #77,965. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

superlatif is uncommon French at frequency #77,965 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \sy.pɛʁ.la.tif\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for superlatif, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is superlatif, spelled S-U-P-E-R-L-A-T-I-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui exprime la qualité, bonne ou mauvaise, portée au plus haut degré.
  2. 2
    Au degré supérieur, avec une nuance d’ironie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Adjectif, adverbe superlatif.
  2. Plusieurs langues ont des terminaisons superlatives.

This word in other languages

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 "superlatif"?
"superlatif" is spelled S-U-P-E-R-L-A-T-I-F. The IPA pronunciation is \sy.pɛʁ.la.tif\.
What does "superlatif" mean?
As an adjective, "superlatif" means: Qui exprime la qualité, bonne ou mauvaise, portée au plus haut degré.
How do you pronounce "superlatif"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "superlatif" is \sy.pɛʁ.la.tif\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "superlatif" come from?
"superlatif" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "superlatif", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list