walkman

\wɔk.man\

/\wɔk.man\/ noun

The verdict

“walkman” is uncommon French (frequency #64,170 among 549 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,170
frequency rank, French
549
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Appareil de musique de petite taille diffusant dans un casque externe.

Corpus desk

Index FR-walkman · walkman · French

walkman · rank #64,170 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,170
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 549
  • PHOTO-FINISH walla

Nearest frequency peer: walla (+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 « walkman »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for walkman
PropertyValue
Headwordwalkman
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\wɔk.man\
Letters7
Frequency rank#64,170
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « walkman » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).walkmantombe 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: « walla » (#64,171), « vostre » (#64,168), « voodoo » (#64,167). Parmi 549 lemmes en « W », « walkman » est au #64,170. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

walkman is uncommon French at frequency #64,170 among 549 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \wɔk.man\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

walkman doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is walkman, spelled W-A-L-K-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Appareil de musique de petite taille diffusant dans un casque externe.
  2. 2
    Baladeur lecteur et éventuellement enregistreur de cassettes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Nous allions en «boum », ils sortent en «boîtes », nous lisions un bouquin, ils se tapent des cassettes... Nous aimions communier sous les auspices des Beatles, ils s’enferment dans l’autisme du walkman...
  2. Chapuis, sur sa couche, avait la ressource d’écouter de la musique dans son walkman, je n’avais même pas un livre, je broyais du noir.

Synonyms

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 "walkman"?
"walkman" is spelled W-A-L-K-M-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is \wɔk.man\.
What does "walkman" mean?
As a noun, "walkman" means: Appareil de musique de petite taille diffusant dans un casque externe.
How do you pronounce "walkman"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "walkman" is \wɔk.man\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "walkman" come from?
"walkman" 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 "walkman", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list