tonsure
\tɔ̃.syʁ\
The verdict
“tonsure” is an uncommon French word, ranked #88,175 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #88,175
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Couronne traditionnellement dessinée sur la tête des clercs, prêtres, moines, etc. de l'Église catholique romaine, en leur rasant les cheveux en rond.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tonsure |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \tɔ̃.syʁ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #88,175 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tonsure” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tonsure is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɔ̃.syʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #88,175 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for tonsure in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is tonsure, spelled T-O-N-S-U-R-E.
Definition
- 1Couronne traditionnellement dessinée sur la tête des clercs, prêtres, moines, etc. de l'Église catholique romaine, en leur rasant les cheveux en rond.
- 2Cérémonie de l’Église catholique romaine par laquelle l’évêque introduit un homme dans l’état ecclésiastique et lui donne le premier degré de la cléricature en lui coupant les cheveux au sommet de la tête.
- 3Calvitie affectant le haut du crâne.
- 4, Au sein d'une prairie, micro-biotope où la terre est nue au milieu de la végétation vivace, à cause d'un surpâturage, de la présence de taupinières ou de l'érosion naturelle.
Synonyms
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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Using “tonsure”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-O-N-S-U-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tɔ̃.syʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.