-um
\ɔm\
The verdict
“-um” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 3
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Suffixe qui sert à créer des noms, généralement à caractère scientifique, le latin étant la lingua franca des scientifiques et lexicalisé en français.
Corpus desk
Index FR-um · -um · French
-um · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "-" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | -um |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | \ɔm\ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “-um” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
-um is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed \ɔm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Suffixe qui sert à créer des noms, généralement à caractère scientifique, le latin étant la lingua franca des scientifiques et lexicalisé en français.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for -um in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is -um, spelled --U-M.
Definition
- 1Suffixe qui sert à créer des noms, généralement à caractère scientifique, le latin étant la lingua franca des scientifiques et lexicalisé en français.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.