berceau
\bɛʁ.so\
The verdict
“berceau” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #9,789 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,789
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Petit lit où l’on couche les nourrissons et qui est disposé pour que l’on puisse le balancer, le bercer, aisément.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | berceau |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \bɛʁ.so\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #9,789 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “berceau” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for berceau is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bɛʁ.so\. Corpus data places it at rank #9,789 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for berceau, with forms such as "bberceau", "becreau", and "bercaeu". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "bureau", "bercer", "berce", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is berceau, spelled B-E-R-C-E-A-U.
Definition
- 1Petit lit où l’on couche les nourrissons et qui est disposé pour que l’on puisse le balancer, le bercer, aisément.
- 2Lieu du commencement, du début, de l’origine.
- 3Prime enfance.
- 4Charmille taillée en voûte, treillage de même forme sur lequel on fait monter de la vigne, du jasmin, etc.
- 5Arceau.
- 6Pièce ou chemin courbé dans le plan vertical pour permettre un changement d’inclinaison (pivotement vertical) sans employer d’essieu.
- 7Lavoir à barrage pour certains minerais.
- 8Instrument du graveur en manière noire ; sorte de ciseau terminé par un biseau aigu que l’on promène — en berçant — sur le métal à graver ; on obtient ainsi une série de pointillés, de grains, de petits trous qui retiennent le noir d’impression. L’épreuve obtenue, après l’emploi du berceau, est d’un noir plus velouté. → voir grenure
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bberceau,becreau,bercaeu,bercceau,berceua,berecau,berrceau,breceau,ebrceau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of berceau - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "berceau"?
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Using “berceau”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is B-E-R-C-E-A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \bɛʁ.so\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bureau” - see the side-by-side comparison. berceau vs bureau
- 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.