wigwam

\wiɡ.wam\

/\wiɡ.wam\/ noun

The verdict

“wigwam” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Type d’habitation traditionnelle construite par les Amérindiens semi-nomades d’Amérique du Nord.

Corpus desk

Index FR-wigwam · wigwam · French

wigwam · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "W" 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.

Key facts for wigwam
PropertyValue
Headwordwigwam
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\wiɡ.wam\
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « wigwam » en français

wigwamsiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

wigwam is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \wiɡ.wam\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Type d’habitation traditionnelle construite par les Amérindiens semi-nomades d’Amérique du Nord.".

wigwam has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is wigwam, spelled W-I-G-W-A-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    Type d’habitation traditionnelle construite par les Amérindiens semi-nomades d’Amérique du Nord.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Quant aux rafraîchissements, le whisky et le gin, ils circulaient dans de petits verres d’étain, sans parler d’un punch gigantesque qui devait clore cette fête, dont les Indiens parleront longtemps dans leurs wigwams.
  2. Avec la petite bande de six à sept gosses dont elle faisait partie, elle avait installé un vaste wigwam au centre de l'immense salon.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wigwam"?
"wigwam" is spelled W-I-G-W-A-M. The IPA pronunciation is \wiɡ.wam\.
What does "wigwam" mean?
As a noun, "wigwam" means: Type d’habitation traditionnelle construite par les Amérindiens semi-nomades d’Amérique du Nord.
How do you pronounce "wigwam"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wigwam" is \wiɡ.wam\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wigwam" come from?
"wigwam" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list