boîte de vitesses

\bwat də vi.tɛs\

/\bwat də vi.tɛs\/ noun

The verdict

“boîte de vitesses” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Dans un véhicule à moteur, système d'engrenages situé entre le moteur et les roues, qui permet au conducteur du véhicule, ou au véhicule lui-même, de régler le rapport de vitesse.

Key facts for boîte de vitesses
PropertyValue
Headwordboîte de vitesses
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bwat də vi.tɛs\
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “boîte de vitesses” sits in French frequency

boîte de vitesses falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

boîte de vitesses is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \bwat də vi.tɛs\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dans un véhicule à moteur, système d'engrenages situé entre le moteur et les roues, qui permet au conducteur du véhicule, ou au véhicule lui-même, de régler le rapport de vitesse.".

boîte de vitesses doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is boîte de vitesses, spelled B-O-Î-T-E- -D-E- -V-I-T-E-S-S-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dans un véhicule à moteur, système d'engrenages situé entre le moteur et les roues, qui permet au conducteur du véhicule, ou au véhicule lui-même, de régler le rapport de vitesse.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "boîte de vitesses"?
"boîte de vitesses" is spelled B-O-Î-T-E- -D-E- -V-I-T-E-S-S-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \bwat də vi.tɛs\.
What does "boîte de vitesses" mean?
As a noun, "boîte de vitesses" means: Dans un véhicule à moteur, système d'engrenages situé entre le moteur et les roues, qui permet au conducteur du véhicule, ou au véhicule lui-même, de régler le rapport de vitesse.
How do you pronounce "boîte de vitesses"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "boîte de vitesses" is \bwat də vi.tɛs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "boîte de vitesses" come from?
"boîte de vitesses" 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.

Using “boîte de vitesses”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is B-O-Î-T-E- -D-E- -V-I-T-E-S-S-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \bwat də vi.tɛs\ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list