Barabbas

\ba.ʁa.bas\

/\ba.ʁa.bas\/ name

The verdict

“Barabbas” is uncommon French (frequency #88,364 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#88,364
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Meurtrier juif à qui Pilate donna la liberté plutôt qu'à Jésus.

Corpus desk

Index FR-barabbas · Barabbas · French

Barabbas · rank #88,364 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #88,364
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH bannissez

Nearest frequency peer: bannissez (-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 « Barabbas »

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 « Barabbas » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Barabbas
PropertyValue
HeadwordBarabbas
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\ba.ʁa.bas\
Letters8
Frequency rank#88,364
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « Barabbas » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).Barabbastombe 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: « bannissez » (#88,363), « banne » (#88,362), « bariolé » (#88,367). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « Barabbas » est au #88,364. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Barabbas is uncommon French at frequency #88,364 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed \ba.ʁa.bas\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Meurtrier juif à qui Pilate donna la liberté plutôt qu'à Jésus.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Barabbas, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is Barabbas, spelled B-A-R-A-B-B-A-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Meurtrier juif à qui Pilate donna la liberté plutôt qu'à Jésus.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il y avait en prison un nommé Barabbas avec ses complices, pour un meurtre qu’ils avaient commis dans une sédition. La foule, étant montée, se mit à demander ce qu’il avait coutume de leur accorder. Pilate leur répondit : Voulez-vous que je vous relâche le roi des Juifs ? Car il savait que c’était par envie que les principaux sacrificateurs l’avaient livr…
  2. Ils regardaient Yéchoua, écroulé, tête basse, en sang, puis Barabbas, bien planté de manière arrogante sur ses jambes fortes, tout en muscles et peau brune, qui les défiait crânement.

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 "Barabbas"?
"Barabbas" is spelled B-A-R-A-B-B-A-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ba.ʁa.bas\.
What does "Barabbas" mean?
As a proper noun, "Barabbas" means: Meurtrier juif à qui Pilate donna la liberté plutôt qu'à Jésus.
How do you pronounce "Barabbas"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Barabbas" is \ba.ʁa.bas\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Barabbas" come from?
"Barabbas" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "Barabbas", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list