vigil

\vi.ʒil\

/\vi.ʒil\/ adj

The verdict

“vigil” is uncommon French (frequency #90,295 among 2,061 “V” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,295
frequency rank, French
2,061
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Variante archaïque de la forme adjectivale masculine vigile ^([1]) ^([2]) ^([3]) ^([4]).

Corpus desk

Index FR-vigil · vigil · French

vigil · rank #90,295 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,295
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,061
  • PHOTO-FINISH vidanger

Nearest frequency peer: vidanger (-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 « vigil »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for vigil
PropertyValue
Headwordvigil
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\vi.ʒil\
Letters5
Frequency rank#90,295
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « vigil » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).vigiltombe 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: « vidanger » (#90,294), « vili » (#90,296), « victoriennes » (#90,293). Parmi 2,061 lemmes en « V », « vigil » est au #90,295. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

vigil is uncommon French at frequency #90,295 among 2,061 “V” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \vi.ʒil\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Variante archaïque de la forme adjectivale masculine vigile ^([1]) ^([2]) ^([3]) ^([4]).".

No generated misspelling entries exist for vigil in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is vigil, spelled V-I-G-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Variante archaïque de la forme adjectivale masculine vigile ^([1]) ^([2]) ^([3]) ^([4]).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Coma vigil ^([1]).

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 "vigil"?
"vigil" is spelled V-I-G-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is \vi.ʒil\.
What does "vigil" mean?
As an adjective, "vigil" means: Variante archaïque de la forme adjectivale masculine vigile ^([1]) ^([2]) ^([3]) ^([4]).
How do you pronounce "vigil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vigil" is \vi.ʒil\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vigil" come from?
"vigil" 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 "vigil", 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