faux pas
/ˌfəʊ ˈpɑː/
"faux-pas" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“faux pas” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An embarrassing or tactless blunder.
Corpus desk
Index EN-faux-pas · faux pas · English
faux pas · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | faux pas |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌfəʊ ˈpɑː/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “faux pas” in English
Rare enough to double-check
faux pas is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌfəʊ ˈpɑː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An embarrassing or tactless blunder.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for faux pas, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French faux pas (“faux pas, blunder; misstep, false step”). The correct English form is faux pas, spelled F-A-U-X- -P-A-S.
Definition
- 1An embarrassing or tactless blunder.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how faux pas appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Now my dear Lady Teazle if you but once make a trifling Faux Pas you can't conceive how cautious you would grow, and how ready to humour and agree with your Husband.
A saint after repentance will forgive himself for a sin; a man about town will never forgive himself for a faux pas.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French faux pas (“faux pas, blunder; misstep, false step”).
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.