battre le pavé

\ba.tʁə lə pa.ve\

/\ba.tʁə lə pa.ve\/ verb

The verdict

“battre le pavé” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
14
letters

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-battre-le-pave · battre le pavé · French

battre le pavé · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "B" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for battre le pavé
PropertyValue
Headwordbattre le pavé
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ba.tʁə lə pa.ve\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « battre le pavé » en français

battre le pavén'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

battre le pavé is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \ba.tʁə lə pa.ve\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for battre le pavé, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is battre le pavé, spelled B-A-T-T-R-E- -L-E- -P-A-V-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Errer.
  2. 2
    Manifester.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Tout le jour, la semelle de ses souliers à boucles battait par petits coups discrets le pavé de la ville, les degrés des escaliers et le plancher des maisons les plus diverses.
  2. Molle, résignée, elle continuait, ne se plaignait que pour Céline, car c’était à fendre le cœur, une petite fille si futée, qui faisait tant de progrès à l’école communale et qui se trouvait réduite à battre le pavé comme une pauvresse.

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "battre le pavé"?
"battre le pavé" is spelled B-A-T-T-R-E- -L-E- -P-A-V-É. The IPA pronunciation is \ba.tʁə lə pa.ve\.
What does "battre le pavé" mean?
As a verb, "battre le pavé" means: Errer.
How do you pronounce "battre le pavé"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "battre le pavé" is \ba.tʁə lə pa.ve\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "battre le pavé" come from?
"battre le pavé" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list