be taken ill

/\ˌbiː ˈteɪ.kən ˈɪl\/ verb

The verdict

“be taken ill” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

Dominant Wiktionary sense: Tomber malade.

Key facts for be taken ill
PropertyValue
Headwordbe taken ill
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ˌbiː ˈteɪ.kən ˈɪl\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “be taken ill” sits in French frequency

be taken ill falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for be taken ill is 12 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˌbiː ˈteɪ.kən ˈɪl\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Tomber malade.".

No misspelling variants are generated for be taken ill in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is be taken ill, spelled B-E- -T-A-K-E-N- -I-L-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Tomber malade.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “be taken ill, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/be-taken-ill

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "be taken ill"?
"be taken ill" is spelled B-E- -T-A-K-E-N- -I-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is \ˌbiː ˈteɪ.kən ˈɪl\.
What does "be taken ill" mean?
As a verb, "be taken ill" means: Tomber malade.
How do you pronounce "be taken ill"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "be taken ill" is \ˌbiː ˈteɪ.kən ˈɪl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "be taken ill" come from?
"be taken ill" 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.

Using “be taken ill”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is B-E- -T-A-K-E-N- -I-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ˌbiː ˈteɪ.kən ˈɪl\ (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

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list