bouffant
\bu.fɑ̃\
The verdict
“bouffant” is uncommon French (frequency #53,815 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #53,815
- frequency rank, French
- 4,251
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui bouffe.
Corpus desk
Index FR-bouffant · bouffant · French
bouffant · rank #53,815 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #53,815
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,251
- PHOTO-FINISH Boudreau
Nearest frequency peer: Boudreau (-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 « bouffant »
Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court
- bonobo
bonobo
46,189 corpus weight
- boobs
boobs
46,188 corpus weight
- Boudreau
Boudreau
46,187 corpus weight
- bouffant
bouffant
46,186 corpus weight
- bouillons
bouillons
46,185 corpus weight
- Bournemouth
Bournemouth
46,184 corpus weight
What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « bouffant » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bouffant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \bu.fɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #53,815 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « bouffant » en français
Rare enough to double-check
bouffant is uncommon French at frequency #53,815 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \bu.fɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui bouffe.".
bouffant doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No documented word history exists 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 bouffant, spelled B-O-U-F-F-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Qui bouffe.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bouffant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Des culottes bouffantes laissaient libre le bas de sa jambe qui s’effilait jusqu’à la pointe des pieds pour suivre le jeu de la pédale.
Le costume des femmes est d'un éclat tout asiatique ; il se compose d'une culotte bouffante, serrée à la cheville, d'un boléro très ouvert qui laisse la poitrine libre dans la mince étoffe.
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
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bouffant", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).