passé
/ˈpæ.seɪ/
"passe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“passé” is uncommon English (frequency #63,875 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,875
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dated; out of style; old-fashioned.
Corpus desk
Index EN-passe · passé · English
passé · rank #63,875 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #63,875
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH Pathan
Nearest frequency peer: Pathan (+1 rank slots)
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.
Long-tail ranks near “passé”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- paperweight
paperweight
36,131 corpus weight
- parenteral
parenteral
36,130 corpus weight
- Parsi
Parsi
36,129 corpus weight
- passé
passé
36,126 corpus weight
- Pathan
Pathan
36,125 corpus weight
- pecked
pecked
36,122 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “passé” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “passé” in English
Rare enough to double-check
passé is uncommon English at frequency #63,875 among 4,417 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how passé appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Mary felt annoyed at the girl; just because bras had become passé, did a girl with so pronounced a bosom have to cater to fashion? In this case practicality dictated a bra, and Mary stood at the desk feeling herself flushing with disapproval.
I never thought you'd be a junkie, because heroin is so passé.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "passé", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).