téter

\te.te\

/\te.te\/ verb

The verdict

“téter” is uncommon French (frequency #57,668 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,668
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sucer, en parlant du lait d’une femme ou de la femelle d’un animal.

Corpus desk

Index FR-teter · téter · French

téter · rank #57,668 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,668
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH Témiscouata

Nearest frequency peer: Témiscouata (-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 « téter »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for téter
PropertyValue
Headwordtéter
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\te.te\
Letters5
Frequency rank#57,668
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « téter » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).tétertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Témiscouata » (#57,667), « têtard » (#57,669), « tuèrent » (#57,666). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « téter » est au #57,668. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

téter is uncommon French at frequency #57,668 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \te.te\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for téter in our index, 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.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is téter, spelled T-É-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sucer, en parlant du lait d’une femme ou de la femelle d’un animal.
  2. 2
    Sucer quelque chose, suçoter.
  3. 3
    Boire des boissons alcoolisées plus que de raison.
  4. 4
    Boire lentement.
  5. 5
    Se dit d’une boule accolée au but (cochonnet).
  6. 6
    Quémander.
  7. 7
    Flagorner.
  8. 8
    Lambiner, hésiter, perdre son temps.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On l’appelait aussi le Ninoche, de ce qu’il était simple d’esprit et innocent comme un veau qui tète encore.
  2. Depuis que les blanchons ne se font plus massacrer au nom du pelage qui les recouvre, ils naissent chaque année du côté des îles de la Madeleine, sur des morceaux de banquise qui leur donnent le droit de téter, l’espace de quelques semaines, le lait maternel.

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

How do you spell "téter"?
"téter" is spelled T-É-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \te.te\.
What does "téter" mean?
As a verb, "téter" means: Sucer, en parlant du lait d’une femme ou de la femelle d’un animal.
How do you pronounce "téter"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "téter" is \te.te\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "téter" come from?
"téter" 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 "téter", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list