bonhomme de sable
\bɔ.nɔm də sabl\
The verdict
“bonhomme de sable” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Personnage mythique versant du sable sur les yeux des enfants pour les endormir.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bonhomme de sable |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \bɔ.nɔm də sabl\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bonhomme de sable” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for bonhomme de sable is 17 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bɔ.nɔm də sabl\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Personnage mythique versant du sable sur les yeux des enfants pour les endormir.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bonhomme de sable, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is bonhomme de sable, spelled B-O-N-H-O-M-M-E- -D-E- -S-A-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1Personnage mythique versant du sable sur les yeux des enfants pour les endormir.
Synonyms
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
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Using “bonhomme de sable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is B-O-N-H-O-M-M-E- -D-E- -S-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \bɔ.nɔm də sabl\ (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.