tourbillon

\tuʁ.bi.jɔ̃\

/\tuʁ.bi.jɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“tourbillon” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #17,580. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#17,580
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Vent impétueux qui tournoie ; tornade.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tourbillon · tourbillon · French

tourbillon · rank #17,580 · 13 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #17,580
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH tou

Nearest frequency peer: tou (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « tourbillon »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « tourbillon » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

tourbillon vs tourbillons
91% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for tourbillon
PropertyValue
Headwordtourbillon
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tuʁ.bi.jɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#17,580
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « tourbillon »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.tourbillonse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « tou » (#17,579), « trafiquants » (#17,581), « tissage » (#17,578). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tourbillon » est au #17,580. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around tourbillon (IPA \tuʁ.bi.jɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #17,580 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for tourbillon, with forms such as "oturbillon", "torubillon", and "toubrillon". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "tourbillons", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is tourbillon, spelled T-O-U-R-B-I-L-L-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Vent impétueux qui tournoie ; tornade.
  2. 2
    Tout ce qui tournoie rapidement.
  3. 3
    Mouvement de l’eau qui tournoie avec violence.
  4. 4
    Mouvement élémentaire de la matière.
  5. 5
    Tout ce qui entraîne dans un mouvement rapide.
  6. 6
    Complication horlogère équipant certains garde-temps de haut de gamme destinée à compenser les perturbations dans la régularité des oscillations du balancier qu’entraîne la pesanteur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Et si le cyclone descend jusqu’à la terre, se forment des tornades, quelle que soit la façon dont leur naissance a lieu selon le mouvement du vent ; s’il descend jusqu’à la mer, ce sont des tourbillons qui se constituent.
  2. Les feuilles mortes, mises en danse par quelques tourbillons soudains, frissonnaient sur les pierres de la cour.

This word in other languages

whirlwind(English)vórtice(Español)Tornado(Deutsch)redemoinho(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • oturbillon
  • torubillon
  • toubrillon
  • tourbbillon
  • tourbillno
  • tourbillonn
  • tourbiloln
  • tourbilon
  • tourblilon
  • touribllon
  • tourrbillon
  • ttourbillon
  • tuorbillon

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tourbillon - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

oturbillon2torubillon2toubrillon2tourbbillon1tourbillno2tourbillonn1tourbiloln2tourbilon1
Edit distance from "tourbillon"

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 "tourbillon"?
"tourbillon" is spelled T-O-U-R-B-I-L-L-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \tuʁ.bi.jɔ̃\.
What does "tourbillon" mean?
As a noun, "tourbillon" means: Vent impétueux qui tournoie ; tornade.
What words are commonly confused with "tourbillon"?
"tourbillon" is commonly confused with "tourbillons". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tourbillon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tourbillon" is \tuʁ.bi.jɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tourbillon" come from?
"tourbillon" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "tourbillon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

terrifiant#17,574violations#17,589soulignent#17,565scandinave#17,561

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

visionnaire13 variantsétendent13 variantsSardaigne13 variantsrévélant13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list