tergiverser
\tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se\
The verdict
“tergiverser” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #48,825 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #48,825
- frequency rank, French
- 11
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Prendre des détours, des faux-fuyants pour éloigner ou pour éluder la conclusion d’une affaire, la décision d’une question, pour ne pas faire une réponse positive, etc.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tergiverser |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #48,825 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tergiverser” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tergiverser is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se\. Corpus data places it at rank #48,825 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Prendre des détours, des faux-fuyants pour éloigner ou pour éluder la conclusion d’une affaire, la décision d’une question, pour ne pas faire une réponse positive, etc.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for tergiverser, with forms such as "etrgiverser", "tegriverser", and "terggiverser". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tergiverser, spelled T-E-R-G-I-V-E-R-S-E-R.
Definition
- 1Prendre des détours, des faux-fuyants pour éloigner ou pour éluder la conclusion d’une affaire, la décision d’une question, pour ne pas faire une réponse positive, etc.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: etrgiverser,tegriverser,terggiverser,tergievrser,tergiveresr,tergiverrser,tergiverserr,tergiversre,tergiversser,tergivesrer,tergivreser,tergivverser,tergvierser,terigverser,terrgiverser,tregiverser,ttergiverser
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tergiverser - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "tergiverser"?
What does "tergiverser" mean?
What are common misspellings of "tergiverser"?
How do you pronounce "tergiverser"?
What language does "tergiverser" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tergiverser”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-E-R-G-I-V-E-R-S-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tɛʁ.ʒi.vɛʁ.se\ (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
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.