bande dessinée
\bɑ̃d dɛ.si.ne\
The verdict
“bande dessinée” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Œuvre utilisant des images fixes non purement photographiques, généralement des dessins, articulées dans une visée narrative.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bande dessinée |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \bɑ̃d dɛ.si.ne\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bande dessinée” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bande dessinée is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \bɑ̃d dɛ.si.ne\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
bande dessinée doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is bande dessinée, spelled B-A-N-D-E- -D-E-S-S-I-N-É-E.
Definition
- 1Œuvre utilisant des images fixes non purement photographiques, généralement des dessins, articulées dans une visée narrative.
- 2L’album contenant une bande dessinée.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “bande dessinée”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is B-A-N-D-E- -D-E-S-S-I-N-É-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \bɑ̃d dɛ.si.ne\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.