vélin

\ve.lɛ̃\

/\ve.lɛ̃\/ adj

The verdict

“vélin” is uncommon French (frequency #56,361 among 2,061 “V” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,361
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui a la finesse du vélin.

Corpus desk

Index FR-velin · vélin · French

vélin · rank #56,361 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,361
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH vulgarisateur

Nearest frequency peer: vulgarisateur (-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 « vélin »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for vélin
PropertyValue
Headwordvélin
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ve.lɛ̃\
Letters5
Frequency rank#56,361
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « vélin » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.vélintombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « vulgarisateur » (#56,360), « vulgairement » (#56,359), « Witherspoon » (#56,363). Parmi 2,061 lemmes en « V », « vélin » est au #56,361. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

vélin is uncommon French at frequency #56,361 among 2,061 “V” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ve.lɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui a la finesse du vélin.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for vélin, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

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 vélin, spelled V-É-L-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui a la finesse du vélin.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. papier vélin.

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 "vélin"?
"vélin" is spelled V-É-L-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ve.lɛ̃\.
What does "vélin" mean?
As an adjective, "vélin" means: Qui a la finesse du vélin.
How do you pronounce "vélin"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vélin" is \ve.lɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vélin" come from?
"vélin" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "vélin", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list