tâtonnement

\ta.tɔn.mɑ̃\

/\ta.tɔn.mɑ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“tâtonnement” is uncommon French (frequency #92,296 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,296
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-tatonnement · tâtonnement · French

tâtonnement · rank #92,296 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,296
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH typée

Nearest frequency peer: typée (-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 « tâtonnement »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for tâtonnement
PropertyValue
Headwordtâtonnement
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ta.tɔn.mɑ̃\
Letters11
Frequency rank#92,296
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « tâtonnement » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).tâtonnementtombe 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: « typée » (#92,295), « tégument » (#92,297), « Turckheim » (#92,294). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tâtonnement » est au #92,296. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tâtonnement is uncommon French at frequency #92,296 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ta.tɔn.mɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Action de tâtonner.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tâtonnement, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is tâtonnement, spelled T-Â-T-O-N-N-E-M-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de tâtonner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […], on peut se convaincre que la détermination du meilleur alliage ne se fit pas sans essais nombreux ; la chimie, peu avancée, procédait par tâtonnements, et cette méthode était aussi longue que coûteuse.
  2. Avons-nous besoin de dire que la disposition de ces instruments a été l’objet de bien des tâtonnements et de multiples perfectionnements avant d’atteindre leur état actuel que nous regardons comme définitif.

Synonyms

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 "tâtonnement"?
"tâtonnement" is spelled T-Â-T-O-N-N-E-M-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ta.tɔn.mɑ̃\.
What does "tâtonnement" mean?
As a noun, "tâtonnement" means: Action de tâtonner.
How do you pronounce "tâtonnement"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tâtonnement" is \ta.tɔn.mɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tâtonnement" come from?
"tâtonnement" 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 "tâtonnement", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list