bête comme ses pieds
\bɛt kɔm se pje\
The verdict
“bête comme ses pieds” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Idiot, stupide.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bête comme ses pieds |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \bɛt kɔm se pje\ |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bête comme ses pieds” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for bête comme ses pieds is 20 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bɛt kɔm se pje\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Idiot, stupide.
- 2Qui manque de tact, grossier, brusque.
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
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Using “bête comme ses pieds”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is B-Ê-T-E- -C-O-M-M-E- -S-E-S- -P-I-E-D-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \bɛt kɔm se pje\ (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
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.