tonsure

\tɔ̃.syʁ\

/\tɔ̃.syʁ\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“tonsure” is uncommon French (frequency #88,175 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,175
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Couronne traditionnellement dessinée sur la tête des clercs, prêtres, moines, etc. de l'Église catholique romaine, en leur rasant les cheveux en rond.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tonsure · tonsure · French

tonsure · rank #88,175 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,175
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH tooth

Nearest frequency peer: tooth (+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 « tonsure »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for tonsure
PropertyValue
Headwordtonsure
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɔ̃.syʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#88,175
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « tonsure » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).tonsuretombe 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: « tooth » (#88,176), « tolérait » (#88,173), « toru » (#88,177). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tonsure » est au #88,175. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tonsure is uncommon French at frequency #88,175 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \tɔ̃.syʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

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

  1. 1
    Couronne traditionnellement dessinée sur la tête des clercs, prêtres, moines, etc. de l'Église catholique romaine, en leur rasant les cheveux en rond.
  2. 2
    Cérémonie 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.
  3. 3
    Calvitie affectant le haut du crâne.
  4. 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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il a fait faire sa tonsure.
  2. Porter la tonsure.

Synonyms

capillotomie

This word in other languages

tonsure(English)tonsura(Español)Tonsur(Deutsch)

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 "tonsure"?
"tonsure" is spelled T-O-N-S-U-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \tɔ̃.syʁ\.
What does "tonsure" mean?
As a noun, "tonsure" means: Couronne traditionnellement dessinée sur la tête des clercs, prêtres, moines, etc. de l'Église catholique romaine, en leur rasant les cheveux en rond.
How do you pronounce "tonsure"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tonsure" is \tɔ̃.syʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tonsure" come from?
"tonsure" 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 "tonsure", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

timorés#88,167théisme#88,162Technik#88,155tankers#88,150

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list