sycophant

noun

The verdict

“sycophant” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Flagorneur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-sycophant · sycophant · French

sycophant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "S" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for sycophant
PropertyValue
Headwordsycophant
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « sycophant » en français

sycophantreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sycophant is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Flagorneur.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for sycophant, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is sycophant, spelled S-Y-C-O-P-H-A-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Flagorneur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Citant le mot devenu maxime, 'il n’a vu dans les lettres que les facultés qu’elles offraient d’en sortir' (p.212), Brunetière trouve comme conséquence nécessaire que l’auteur ne peut être qu'un sycophant dérisoire,un brodeur de vers rampant.
  2. Leur principale critique était que la liberté d'expression n'existait pas. Comme en Guinée, le parti unique, The Convention People's Party, faisait des ravages. Y adhéraient des sycophants et des arrivistes. Je refusais de donner foi à ces propos.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sycophant"?
"sycophant" is spelled S-Y-C-O-P-H-A-N-T.
What does "sycophant" mean?
As a noun, "sycophant" means: Flagorneur.
What language does "sycophant" come from?
"sycophant" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list