acerbe
French, adjective/a.sɛʁb/
acerbe is spelled A-C-E-R-B-E (6 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written French, the 40,183rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Acerbe is a French adjective meaning “acerb (bitter to the taste)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui est d’un goût aigre et âpre”.
What does acerbe mean in English?
adjective
- 1
acerb (bitter to the taste)
- 2
harsh
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui est d’un goût aigre et âpre. 2. Se dit d’un vin acide, dur et âpre. 3. Cruel, impitoyable, aigre, caustique (en parlant d’un ton, d’une parole, d’un propos)
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of acerbe
- acerbes plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce acerbe?
- /a.sɛʁb/
- \a.sɛʁb\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to acerbe
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is acerbe in French?
acerbe appears about once in every 2 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).