barb

\ˈbaɾp\

/\ˈbaɾp\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“barb” is uncommon French (frequency #72,101 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,101
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Barbeau.

Corpus desk

Index FR-barb · barb · French

barb · rank #72,101 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,101
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH baptisa

Nearest frequency peer: baptisa (-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 « barb »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for barb
PropertyValue
Headwordbarb
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈbaɾp\
Letters4
Frequency rank#72,101
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « barb » en français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « baptisa » (#72,100), « baleinière » (#72,099), « barométrique » (#72,103). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « barb » est au #72,101. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

barb is uncommon French at frequency #72,101 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈbaɾp\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Barbeau.".

barb has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is barb, spelled B-A-R-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    Barbeau.

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 "barb"?
"barb" is spelled B-A-R-B. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈbaɾp\.
What does "barb" mean?
As a noun, "barb" means: Barbeau.
How do you pronounce "barb"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "barb" is \ˈbaɾp\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "barb" come from?
"barb" 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 "barb", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

bohr#72,120aqui#72,071Brno#72,136ANRU#72,065

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list