-um
\ɔm\
The verdict
“-um” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a suffix - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 3
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Suffixe qui sert à créer des noms, généralement à caractère scientifique, le latin étant la lingua franca des scientifiques et lexicalisé en français.
| 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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for -um is 3 letters long, classified as a suffix, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɔm\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “-um”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is --U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɔm\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.