torpedo

verb

The verdict

“torpedo” is uncommon French (frequency #89,255 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,255
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Torpiller.

Corpus desk

Index FR-torpedo · torpedo · French

torpedo · rank #89,255 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,255
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH tonnellerie

Nearest frequency peer: tonnellerie (-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 « torpedo »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for torpedo
PropertyValue
Headwordtorpedo
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
Letters7
Frequency rank#89,255
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « torpedo » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.torpedotombe 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: « tonnellerie » (#89,254), « totémique » (#89,257), « toga » (#89,252). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « torpedo » est au #89,255. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

torpedo is uncommon French at frequency #89,255 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Torpiller.".

No misspelling variants are generated for torpedo in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is torpedo, spelled T-O-R-P-E-D-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Torpiller.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. If an academic scientist put something like this out there, it would get torpedoed into a billion pieces.

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 "torpedo"?
"torpedo" is spelled T-O-R-P-E-D-O.
What does "torpedo" mean?
As a verb, "torpedo" means: Torpiller.
What language does "torpedo" come from?
"torpedo" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "torpedo", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list