surligner

\syʁ.li.ɲe\

/\syʁ.li.ɲe\/ verb

The verdict

“surligner” is uncommon French (frequency #97,452 among 6,032 “S” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#97,452
frequency rank, French
6,032
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Faire ressortir un élément textuel ou graphique par moyen de changement de couleur, taille ou format par rapport au reste du contenu.

Corpus desk

Index FR-surligner · surligner · French

surligner · rank #97,452 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #97,452
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,032
  • PHOTO-FINISH supranational…

Nearest frequency peer: supranationales (-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 « surligner »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for surligner
PropertyValue
Headwordsurligner
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\syʁ.li.ɲe\
Letters9
Frequency rank#97,452
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « surligner » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).surlignertombe 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: « supranationales » (#97,451), « surnommaient » (#97,453), « suroît » (#97,454). Parmi 6,032 lemmes en « S », « surligner » est au #97,452. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

surligner is uncommon French at frequency #97,452 among 6,032 “S” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \syʁ.li.ɲe\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for surligner in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is surligner, spelled S-U-R-L-I-G-N-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Faire ressortir un élément textuel ou graphique par moyen de changement de couleur, taille ou format par rapport au reste du contenu.
  2. 2
    Tracer un trait au dessus de la ligne de texte.
  3. 3
    Passer un stylo-feutre de couleur transparente sur une partie de texte pour la faire ressortir.

Synonyms

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 "surligner"?
"surligner" is spelled S-U-R-L-I-G-N-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \syʁ.li.ɲe\.
What does "surligner" mean?
As a verb, "surligner" means: Faire ressortir un élément textuel ou graphique par moyen de changement de couleur, taille ou format par rapport au reste du contenu.
How do you pronounce "surligner"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "surligner" is \syʁ.li.ɲe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "surligner" come from?
"surligner" 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 "surligner", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list