bouche bée
\buʃ be\
The verdict
“bouche bée” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Comme frappé de stupeur ou d’étonnement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-bouche-bee · bouche bée · French
bouche bée · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bouche bée |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \buʃ be\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « bouche bée » en français
Rare enough to double-check
bouche bée is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \buʃ be\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Comme frappé de stupeur ou d’étonnement.".
bouche bée doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is bouche bée, spelled B-O-U-C-H-E- -B-É-E.
Definition
- 1Comme frappé de stupeur ou d’étonnement.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bouche bée appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Alain était resté bouche bée et les yeux fixés sur une voiture qui arrivait du côté de la rue dé la Paix, au grand trot de deux superbes chevaux alezans : […].
Comme tous les Français, tu as en ta caboche si bien l’instinct de l’ordre et la raison ancrés que tu peux t’amuser à faire l’extravagant : il n’est de risques (pauvres niais !) que pour les gens qui te regardent bouche bée et voudraient t’imiter.
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.