zéphyr

\ze.fiʁ\

/\ze.fiʁ\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“zéphyr” is uncommon French (frequency #55,689 among 240 “Z” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,689
frequency rank, French
240
“Z” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nom que les anciens donnaient au vent d’occident.

Corpus desk

Index FR-zephyr · zéphyr · French

zéphyr · rank #55,689 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,689
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 240
  • PHOTO-FINISH zn

Nearest frequency peer: zn (-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 « zéphyr »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for zéphyr
PropertyValue
Headwordzéphyr
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ze.fiʁ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#55,689
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « zéphyr » en français

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

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « zn » (#55,688), « échalote » (#55,690), « xin » (#55,687). Parmi 240 lemmes en « Z », « zéphyr » est au #55,689. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

zéphyr is uncommon French at frequency #55,689 among 240 “Z” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ze.fiʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for zéphyr, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is zéphyr, spelled Z-É-P-H-Y-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nom que les anciens donnaient au vent d’occident.
  2. 2
    Toute sorte de vents doux et agréables.
  3. 3
    Tissu de coton peigné, souple, fin et serré.
  4. 4
    Soldat des bataillons disciplinaires d’Afrique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le souffle du zéphyr.
  2. Le chaume flexible des graminées de nos prairies, dont les épis légers ne s'élèvent que peu au-dessus du sol et que le moindre souffle du zéphyr suffit à bercer mollement , est remplacé dans certaines contrées de l'Asie par les tiges de bambous, riches en nœuds et d'un diamètre si considérable, […].

This word in other languages

zephyr(English)Zephyr(Deutsch)

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 "zéphyr"?
"zéphyr" is spelled Z-É-P-H-Y-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ze.fiʁ\.
What does "zéphyr" mean?
As a noun, "zéphyr" means: Nom que les anciens donnaient au vent d’occident.
How do you pronounce "zéphyr"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "zéphyr" is \ze.fiʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "zéphyr" come from?
"zéphyr" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "zéphyr", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

écouta#55,694wealth#55,682wallah#55,680alizés#55,730

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list