torpiller

\tɔʁ.pi.je\

/\tɔʁ.pi.je\/ verb

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

The verdict

“torpiller” is uncommon French (frequency #53,030 among 3,703 “T” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,030
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Faire sauter à l’aide d’une torpille.

Corpus desk

Index FR-torpiller · torpiller · French

torpiller · rank #53,030 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,030
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH totally

Nearest frequency peer: totally (+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 « torpiller »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for torpiller
PropertyValue
Headwordtorpiller
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\tɔʁ.pi.je\
Letters9
Frequency rank#53,030
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « torpiller » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).torpillertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « totally » (#53,031), « Tolbiac » (#53,028), « Tote » (#53,032). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « torpiller » est au #53,030. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

torpiller is uncommon French at frequency #53,030 among 3,703 “T” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \tɔʁ.pi.je\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 7 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for torpiller in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is torpiller, spelled T-O-R-P-I-L-L-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Faire sauter à l’aide d’une torpille.
  2. 2
    Critiquer, médire, calomnier quelque chose ou quelqu’un.
  3. 3
    Faire échouer un projet, une entreprise, de façon soudaine.
  4. 4
    Changer radicalement ; contester.
  5. 5
    Attaquer sournoisement, faire échouer par des manœuvres occultes.
  6. 6
    Appliquer le torpillage à un patient.
  7. 7
    Tirer, pendant un assaut, sur un membre de son propre camp.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La prochaine guerre sera gagnée au bout du compte par les sous-marins et les avions, et nous devrions dépenser plus d’argent à les développer qu'à gaspiller nos ressources en construisant des dreadnoughts dont la seule fonction est de torpiller les cuirassés allemands et de se faire torpiller leur tour.
  2. Il m’interrogeait sur mes lectures, je lui confiais ingénument mes admirations locales, Charles Le Goffic, Anatole Le Braz ; il s’amusait, plissant son œil de malice, à les torpiller, en moquant leur platitude, et j’étais troublée.

This word in other languages

torpedo(English)torpedear(Español)

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 "torpiller"?
"torpiller" is spelled T-O-R-P-I-L-L-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \tɔʁ.pi.je\.
What does "torpiller" mean?
As a verb, "torpiller" means: Faire sauter à l’aide d’une torpille.
How do you pronounce "torpiller"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "torpiller" is \tɔʁ.pi.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "torpiller" come from?
"torpiller" 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 "torpiller", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tranchent#53,034Transvaal#53,036suggérées#53,012Vespasien#53,056

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list