tocsin
\tɔk.sɛ̃\
The verdict
“tocsin” is uncommon French (frequency #57,648 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,648
- frequency rank, French
- 3,703
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tintement d’une cloche à coups pressés et redoublés pour donner l’alarme, pour avertir du feu, etc.
Corpus desk
Index FR-tocsin · tocsin · French
tocsin · rank #57,648 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,648
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,703
- PHOTO-FINISH timer
Nearest frequency peer: timer (-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 « tocsin »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- Tilda
Tilda
42,356 corpus weight
- timbrée
timbrée
42,355 corpus weight
- timer
timer
42,354 corpus weight
- tocsin
tocsin
42,353 corpus weight
- tomberez
tomberez
42,352 corpus weight
- toponymes
toponymes
42,351 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « tocsin » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tocsin |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \tɔk.sɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #57,648 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « tocsin » en français
Rare enough to double-check
tocsin is uncommon French at frequency #57,648 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \tɔk.sɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
tocsin doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Our source data has no etymology on file 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 tocsin, spelled T-O-C-S-I-N.
Definition
- 1Tintement d’une cloche à coups pressés et redoublés pour donner l’alarme, pour avertir du feu, etc.
- 2Cloche destinée à sonner le tocsin.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tocsin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Le tocsin sonnait aux églises; les bourgeois sortaient armés, et se battaient bravement contre les Savoyards.
— Eh ! dit-il de sa voix nette, j’entends le tocsin. Tous se penchèrent sur le parapet, retenant leur souffle. Et, légers, avec des puretés de cristal, les tintements éloignés d’une cloche montèrent de la plaine. Ces messieurs ne purent nier. C’était bien le tocsin.
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tocsin", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).