tenon
\tə.nɔ̃\
The verdict
“tenon” is uncommon French (frequency #67,158 among 164,488 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,158
- frequency rank, French
- 164,488
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Extrémité d’une pièce de bois ou de métal diminuée d’une partie de son épaisseur, qu’on fait entrer dans une mortaise, c’est-à-dire dans un trou de même forme et de même grandeur fait à une autre p...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tenon |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \tə.nɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #67,158 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tenon” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
tenon is uncommon French at frequency #67,158 among 164,488 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \tə.nɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for tenon in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is tenon, spelled T-E-N-O-N.
Definition
- 1Extrémité d’une pièce de bois ou de métal diminuée d’une partie de son épaisseur, qu’on fait entrer dans une mortaise, c’est-à-dire dans un trou de même forme et de même grandeur fait à une autre pièce.
- 2Partie mâle, en général garnie de liège pour assurer l’étanchéité, d’un corps d’instrument de la famille des bois qui s’insère dans le corps voisin pour permettre l’assemblage de l’instrument.
- 3Petite cheville de fer qui sert à assujettir le canon d’une arme sur son bois.
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
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Using “tenon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-E-N-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tə.nɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.