tonka

\tɔ̃.ka\

/\tɔ̃.ka\/ noun

The verdict

“tonka” is uncommon French (frequency #77,997 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,997
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nom vernaculaire de divers arbre du genre Dipteryx dont Dipteryx odorata et Dipteryx alata.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tonka · tonka · French

tonka · rank #77,997 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,997
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH tirerons

Nearest frequency peer: tirerons (-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 « tonka »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for tonka
PropertyValue
Headwordtonka
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɔ̃.ka\
Letters5
Frequency rank#77,997
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « tonka » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.tonkatombe 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: « tirerons » (#77,996), « tonnages » (#77,998), « Thémistocle » (#77,993). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tonka » est au #77,997. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tonka is uncommon French at frequency #77,997 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \tɔ̃.ka\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for tonka in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is tonka, spelled T-O-N-K-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nom vernaculaire de divers arbre du genre Dipteryx dont Dipteryx odorata et Dipteryx alata.
  2. 2
    Graine aromatique, utilisée en parfumerie et en alimentation, elle est produite par différents arbres d'Amérique du Sud du genre Dipteryx, elle contient de la coumarine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Il donne la graine aromatique tonka, appelée en portugais cumaru.

Synonyms

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 "tonka"?
"tonka" is spelled T-O-N-K-A. The IPA pronunciation is \tɔ̃.ka\.
What does "tonka" mean?
As a noun, "tonka" means: Nom vernaculaire de divers arbre du genre Dipteryx dont Dipteryx odorata et Dipteryx alata.
How do you pronounce "tonka"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tonka" is \tɔ̃.ka\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tonka" come from?
"tonka" 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 "tonka", 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