Thule

\ˈtʰuː.leː\

/\ˈtʰuː.leː\/ name

The verdict

“Thule” is uncommon French (frequency #88,160 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,160
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Thulé, ile formant la limite septentrionale du monde connu chez les Anciens, peut-être les îles Féroé, le Groenland ou l’Islande.

Corpus desk

Index FR-thule · Thule · French

Thule · rank #88,160 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,160
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH Thoune

Nearest frequency peer: Thoune (-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 « Thule »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Thule
PropertyValue
HeadwordThule
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\ˈtʰuː.leː\
Letters5
Frequency rank#88,160
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « Thule » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).Thuletombe 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: « Thoune » (#88,159), « Thècle » (#88,161), « thong » (#88,158). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « Thule » est au #88,160. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Thule is uncommon French at frequency #88,160 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed \ˈtʰuː.leː\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Thulé, ile formant la limite septentrionale du monde connu chez les Anciens, peut-être les îles Féroé, le Groenland ou l’Islande.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for Thule in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No borrowing history is documented 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 Thule, spelled T-H-U-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Thulé, ile formant la limite septentrionale du monde connu chez les Anciens, peut-être les îles Féroé, le Groenland ou l’Islande.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. sic fit, ut vario lucis incremento in Mero‘ longissimus dies XII horas aequinoctiales et octo partes unius horae colligat, Alexandriae vero XIIII horas, in Italia XV, in Britannia XVII, ubi aestate lucidae noctes haut dubie se promittunt, id quod cogit ratio credi, solstiti diebus accedente sole propius verticem mundi angusto lucis ambitu subiecta terrae…

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 "Thule"?
"Thule" is spelled T-H-U-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈtʰuː.leː\.
What does "Thule" mean?
As a proper noun, "Thule" means: Thulé, ile formant la limite septentrionale du monde connu chez les Anciens, peut-être les îles Féroé, le Groenland ou l’Islande.
How do you pronounce "Thule"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Thule" is \ˈtʰuː.leː\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Thule" come from?
"Thule" 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 "Thule", 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