bailler
French, verb
bailler is spelled B-A-I-L-L-E-R (7 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written French, the 46,652nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bailler is a French verb meaning “to lend” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, bâiller is a different word: “to yawn”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “ou Donner”.
What does bailler mean in English?
verb
- 1
obsoleteto give
- 2
to lend
- 3
to rent, lease
verb
- 1
to yawn
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Réaliser un mouvement réflexe d’inspiration suivi d’une expiration en ouvrant grand la bouche, par fatigue ou par ennui. 2. Béer, être ouvert, entrouvert.
verb: 1. ou Donner. 2. Mettre en main, livrer, remettre. – Note d’usage : Ne subsiste plus que dans l’expression la bailler belle. 3. Prêter, confier. 4. Louer, donner à bail.
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 bailler
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- bâillant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- bâillé participle past
- bâille first-person indicative present
- bâilles indicative present second-person
- bâillons first-person indicative plural
- bâillez indicative plural present
- bâillent indicative plural present
- bâillais first-person imperfect indicative
- bâillait imperfect indicative singular
- bâillions first-person imperfect indicative
- bâilliez imperfect indicative plural
- bâillaient imperfect indicative plural
- bâillai first-person historic indicative
- bâillas historic indicative past
- bâilla historic indicative past
- bâillâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bailler
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bailler in French?
bailler 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).