tympan

/\tɛ̃.pɑ̃\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#30,011

in French word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

4

similar word pairs

tympan is aFrenchnoun. It means: Cavité de forme irrégulière, qui constitue l'oreille moyenne, et qui est fermée du côté de l'oreille externe par une membrane. Pronounced \tɛ̃.pɑ̃\. Often confused with tyran and tympans.

Key facts for tympan
PropertyValue
Headwordtympan
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɛ̃.pɑ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#30,011
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of tympan in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for tympan is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɛ̃.pɑ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #30,011 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for tympan, with forms such as "tmypan", "ttympan", and "tymapn". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "tyran", "tympans", "tampa", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is tympan, spelled T-Y-M-P-A-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Cavité de forme irrégulière, qui constitue l'oreille moyenne, et qui est fermée du côté de l'oreille externe par une membrane.
  2. 2
    Membrane tympanique.
  3. 3
    Désigne divers instruments à percussion : tympanon, gong, etc.
  4. 4
    Espace qui se trouve encadré par les trois corniches du fronton, par le linteau et l’arc d’une porte (archivolte), par un arc et une ligne droite, etc.
  5. 5
    Panneau, orné ou ajouré, situé entre les moulures dans la partie supérieure d'un dormant de porte ou de fenêtre.
  6. 6
    Dans la presse à bras, sorte de châssis composé de quatre barres de bois ou de fer, sur lesquelles est tendu un morceau d’étoffe ou un parchemin.
  7. 7
    (Hydraulique) Roue hydraulique élévatoire, qui était mue autrefois par des hommes marchant à l’intérieur pour imprimer un mouvement de rotation.
  8. 8
    Pignon enté sur son arbre et qui engrène dans les dents d’une roue.
  9. 9
    Mur de tête d'un pont servant à maintenir les terres de remblai des voûtes.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: tmypan,ttympan,tymapn,tymmpan,tympann,tympna,tymppan,typman,tyympan,ytmpan

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for tympan

Misspelling Variants of "tympan"

tmypan6ttympan7tymapn6tymmpan7tympann7tympna6tymppan7typman6
Misspelling Variants of "tympan"

Frequency rank: #30,011 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tympan"?
"tympan" is spelled T-Y-M-P-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is \tɛ̃.pɑ̃\.
What does "tympan" mean?
As a noun, "tympan" means: Cavité de forme irrégulière, qui constitue l'oreille moyenne, et qui est fermée du côté de l'oreille externe par une membrane.
What words are commonly confused with "tympan"?
"tympan" is commonly confused with "tyran", "tympans", "tampa". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tympan"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tympan" is \tɛ̃.pɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tympan" come from?
"tympan" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter T in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.