têtard

\tɛ.taʁ\

/\tɛ.taʁ\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“têtard” is uncommon French (frequency #57,669 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,669
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Larve de batracien vivant dans l’eau et respirant par des branchies.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tetard · têtard · French

têtard · rank #57,669 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,669
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH téter

Nearest frequency peer: téter (-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 « têtard »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for têtard
PropertyValue
Headwordtêtard
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɛ.taʁ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#57,669
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « têtard » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).têtardtombe 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: « téter » (#57,668), « ues » (#57,670), « Témiscouata » (#57,667). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « têtard » est au #57,669. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

têtard is uncommon French at frequency #57,669 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \tɛ.taʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for têtard, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is têtard, spelled T-Ê-T-A-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Larve de batracien vivant dans l’eau et respirant par des branchies.
  2. 2
    Se dit de certains petits poissons à grosse tête, comme le chabot.
  3. 3
    Façon de tailler un arbre, de façon qu’il forme une touffe épaisse au sommet du tronc.
  4. 4
    Arbre dont on coupe régulièrement (3 à 10 ans) les branches pour fournir du bois, et que l'on laisse repousser. Au bout de plusieurs tailles l'arbre prend cet aspect caractéristique d'où il tire son nom.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. […] ; cette larve à corps ovalaire est munie d’une longue queue qui lui donne quelque ressemblance avec un têtard.
  2. Il y a des perce-oreilles dans les chantiers des Ursulines, il y a des mille-pieds au Panthéon, il y a des têtards dans les fossés du Champ de Mars.

Synonyms

ragossetrognardtrogneétrognage

This word in other languages

tadpole(English)renacuajo(Español)Kaulquappe(Deutsch)girino(Português)

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 "têtard"?
"têtard" is spelled T-Ê-T-A-R-D. The IPA pronunciation is \tɛ.taʁ\.
What does "têtard" mean?
As a noun, "têtard" means: Larve de batracien vivant dans l’eau et respirant par des branchies.
How do you pronounce "têtard"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "têtard" is \tɛ.taʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "têtard" come from?
"têtard" 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 "têtard", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tueras#57,664trying#57,661trendy#57,657véloce#57,685

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list