ultraviolet

\yl.tʁa.vjɔ.lɛ\

/\yl.tʁa.vjɔ.lɛ\/ adj

The verdict

“ultraviolet” is uncommon French (frequency #51,796 among 456 “U” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,796
frequency rank, French
456
“U” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dont la longueur d’onde est plus courte que celles de la lumière visible dans le spectre électromagnétique.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ultraviolet · ultraviolet · French

ultraviolet · rank #51,796 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,796
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 456
  • PHOTO-FINISH TWh

Nearest frequency peer: TWh (-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 « ultraviolet »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ultraviolet
PropertyValue
Headwordultraviolet
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\yl.tʁa.vjɔ.lɛ\
Letters11
Frequency rank#51,796
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ultraviolet » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ultraviolettombe 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: « TWh » (#51,795), « unter » (#51,797), « Turkestan » (#51,794). Parmi 456 lemmes en « U », « ultraviolet » est au #51,796. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ultraviolet is uncommon French at frequency #51,796 among 456 “U” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \yl.tʁa.vjɔ.lɛ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dont la longueur d’onde est plus courte que celles de la lumière visible dans le spectre électromagnétique.".

ultraviolet has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is ultraviolet, spelled U-L-T-R-A-V-I-O-L-E-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dont la longueur d’onde est plus courte que celles de la lumière visible dans le spectre électromagnétique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. L’allylène et l’acide chlorhydrique donnent surtout du β-chloropropylène qui se polymérise par exemple sous l’action des rayons ultraviolets, et peut alors servir à faire des vernis ou peut être déshalogénisé par traitement en solvants neutres par le zinc, le magnésium ou le sodium, et donne alors un produit ressemblant au caoutchouc.
  2. Contrairement aux rayons X ou ultraviolets, elles ne seraient pas assez puissantes pour atteindre les cellules du corps humain et affecter notre système immunitaire.

This word in other languages

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 "ultraviolet"?
"ultraviolet" is spelled U-L-T-R-A-V-I-O-L-E-T. The IPA pronunciation is \yl.tʁa.vjɔ.lɛ\.
What does "ultraviolet" mean?
As an adjective, "ultraviolet" means: Dont la longueur d’onde est plus courte que celles de la lumière visible dans le spectre électromagnétique.
How do you pronounce "ultraviolet"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ultraviolet" is \yl.tʁa.vjɔ.lɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ultraviolet" come from?
"ultraviolet" 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 "ultraviolet", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list