zouave
\zwav\
The verdict
“zouave” is an uncommon French word, ranked #60,490 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #60,490
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Soldat d’un corps d’infanterie créé en Algérie en 1830 et dissous en 1962.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | zouave |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \zwav\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #60,490 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “zouave” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for zouave is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \zwav\. Corpus data places it at rank #60,490 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for zouave, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is zouave, spelled Z-O-U-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1Soldat d’un corps d’infanterie créé en Algérie en 1830 et dissous en 1962.
- 2Soldat au service du Vatican à une époque.
- 3Membre des « zouaves civils », une association catholique du XIXᵉ siècle.
- 4Individu excentrique.
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
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Using “zouave”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is Z-O-U-A-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \zwav\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.