tic-tac
\tik.tak\
The verdict
“tic-tac” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an onomatopoeia. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Onomatopée exprimant un mouvement réglé ou bien le temps qui passe.
Corpus desk
Index FR-tic-tac · tic-tac · French
tic-tac · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tic-tac |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Onomatopoeia |
| IPA | \tik.tak\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « tic-tac » en français
Rare enough to double-check
tic-tac is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anonomatopoeia, transcribed \tik.tak\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Onomatopée exprimant un mouvement réglé ou bien le temps qui passe.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tic-tac, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
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 tic-tac, spelled T-I-C---T-A-C.
Definition
- 1Onomatopée exprimant un mouvement réglé ou bien le temps qui passe.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tic-tac appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
« […]. Comment puis-je ébranler les normes inébranlables de la société lorsque je suis confrontée au tic-tac implacable du temps? »
Tic-tac, il ne te reste plus qu'une minute avant la fin du temps imparti !
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.