blême

\blɛm\

/\blɛm\/ adj

The verdict

“blême” is uncommon French (frequency #52,521 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,521
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Très pâle, plus que pâle. — Note d’usage : S’utilise surtout en parlant du visage, du teint.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bleme · blême · French

blême · rank #52,521 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,521
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH blur

Nearest frequency peer: blur (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « blême »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « blême » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for blême
PropertyValue
Headwordblême
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\blɛm\
Letters5
Frequency rank#52,521
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « blême » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.blêmetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « blur » (#52,520), « boas » (#52,522), « blesses » (#52,519). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « blême » est au #52,521. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

blême is uncommon French at frequency #52,521 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \blɛm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for blême, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is blême, spelled B-L-Ê-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Très pâle, plus que pâle. — Note d’usage : S’utilise surtout en parlant du visage, du teint.
  2. 2
    Qualifie un objet d’une couleur très pâle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Un cadavre, visage blême, ricanait là, sous la lune.
  2. Adieu, vous voyez trop en mon visage blême Que m’arracher à vous c’est m’ôter à moi-même.

This word in other languages

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 "blême"?
"blême" is spelled B-L-Ê-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is \blɛm\.
What does "blême" mean?
As an adjective, "blême" means: Très pâle, plus que pâle. — Note d’usage : S’utilise surtout en parlant du visage, du teint.
How do you pronounce "blême"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "blême" is \blɛm\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "blême" come from?
"blême" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "blême", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list