bâiller

\ba.je\

/\ba.je\/ verb

The verdict

“bâiller” is uncommon French (frequency #90,499 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,499
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Réaliser un mouvement réflexe d’inspiration suivi d’une expiration en ouvrant grand la bouche, par fatigue ou par ennui.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bailler · bâiller · French

bâiller · rank #90,499 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,499
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH burkinabés

Nearest frequency peer: burkinabés (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « bâiller »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « bâiller » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bâiller
PropertyValue
Headwordbâiller
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ba.je\
Letters7
Frequency rank#90,499
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « bâiller » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).bâillertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « burkinabés » (#90,498), « cabanons » (#90,500), « buenas » (#90,497). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bâiller » est au #90,499. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bâiller is uncommon French at frequency #90,499 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ba.je\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for bâiller in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is bâiller, spelled B-Â-I-L-L-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Réaliser un mouvement réflexe d’inspiration suivi d’une expiration en ouvrant grand la bouche, par fatigue ou par ennui.
  2. 2
    Béer, être ouvert, entrouvert.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bâiller appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. L’intelligence avec laquelle ce Tourangeau raccommodait le trait cassé rassura le colonel comte d’Aiglemont, qui revint vers la portière en étendant ses bras comme pour détirer ses muscles endormis ; il bâilla, regarda le paysage, et posa la main sur le bras d’une jeune femme soigneusement enveloppée dans un vitchoura.
  2. Boyer apprit au parterre à bâiller.

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

How do you spell "bâiller"?
"bâiller" is spelled B-Â-I-L-L-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ba.je\.
What does "bâiller" mean?
As a verb, "bâiller" means: Réaliser un mouvement réflexe d’inspiration suivi d’une expiration en ouvrant grand la bouche, par fatigue ou par ennui.
How do you pronounce "bâiller"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bâiller" is \ba.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bâiller" come from?
"bâiller" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bâiller", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list