bête comme ses pieds

\bɛt kɔm se pje\

/\bɛt kɔm se pje\/ adj

The verdict

“bête comme ses pieds” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
20
letters

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-bete-comme-ses-pieds · bête comme ses pieds · French

bête comme ses pieds · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 20 letters
  • VOW-7 7 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 bête comme ses pieds
PropertyValue
Headwordbête comme ses pieds
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\bɛt kɔm se pje\
Letters20
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « bête comme ses pieds » en français

bête comme ses piedssiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

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

Rare enough to double-check

bête comme ses pieds is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \bɛt kɔm se pje\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bête comme ses pieds, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is bête comme ses pieds, spelled B-Ê-T-E- -C-O-M-M-E- -S-E-S- -P-I-E-D-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Idiot, stupide.
  2. 2
    Qui manque de tact, grossier, brusque.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. M. Courtois se fâchait. « Ce tu viens de faire là, grommelait-il, se hasardant, dans sa colère, aux injures à la mode, ce que tu viens de faire là, c'est bête comme tes pieds. » Il ne tarda pas, sans doute par économie, à raccourcir la formule. Il disait : « Encore tes pieds! C'est on ne peut plus tes pieds. »
  2. L’elfe et le nain se haïssent, le voleur est un trouillard, le barbare est bête comme ses pieds, bref, on retrouve tous les clichés d’une aventure de Donjons & Dragons, mais avec une saine dose d’humour.

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 "bête comme ses pieds"?
"bête comme ses pieds" is spelled B-Ê-T-E- -C-O-M-M-E- -S-E-S- -P-I-E-D-S. The IPA pronunciation is \bɛt kɔm se pje\.
What does "bête comme ses pieds" mean?
As an adjective, "bête comme ses pieds" means: Idiot, stupide.
How do you pronounce "bête comme ses pieds"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bête comme ses pieds" is \bɛt kɔm se pje\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bête comme ses pieds" come from?
"bête comme ses pieds" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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