passé
/ˈpæ.seɪ/
"passe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“passé” is uncommon English (frequency #63,875 among 46,516 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,875
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Dated; out of style; old-fashioned.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | passé |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈpæ.seɪ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #63,875 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “passé” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
passé is uncommon English at frequency #63,875 among 46,516 “P” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˈpæ.seɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for passé, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French passé (“passed”, past participle of passer (“to pass”)). The correct English form is passé, spelled P-A-S-S-É.
Definition
- 1Dated; out of style; old-fashioned.
- 2Past one's prime; worn; faded.
Etymology
From French passé (“passed”, past participle of passer (“to pass”)).
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “passé”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-S-S-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpæ.seɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.