bistre
French, noun
bistre is spelled B-I-S-T-R-E (6 letters) and appears about once in every 10 million words in written French, the 104,709th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bistre is a French masculine noun meaning “bistre” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of bistrer. With an accent, bistré is a different word: “swarthy”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Goudron issu de la combustion de bois insuffisamment sec, et qui se dépose dans les conduits de cheminée”.
What does bistre mean in English?
adjective
- 1
bistre
noun
- 1
masculinebistre
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- 2
second-person singular imperative
adjective
- 1
swarthy
- 2
tanned
verb
- 1
past participle of bistrer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui a la couleur du bistre, jaune rouille.
adjective: 1. De la couleur de la suie détrempée. #3D2B1F #856D4D
noun: 1. Goudron issu de la combustion de bois insuffisamment sec, et qui se dépose dans les conduits de cheminée. 2. Suie détrempée dont on se sert pour faire des dessins au lavis et dont la couleur est d’un marron tirant sur le gris. #3D2B1F #856D4D 3. Couleur marron tirant sur le gris. 4. Lavis réalisé avec cette couleur.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of bistre
- bistres plural
- bistrée feminine
- bistrés masculine plural
- bistrées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is bistre in French?
bistre appears about once in every 10 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).