bouffi

\bu.fi\

/\bu.fi\/ adj

The verdict

“bouffi” is uncommon French (frequency #67,333 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,333
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Enflé de façon malsaine, maladive.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bouffi · bouffi · French

bouffi · rank #67,333 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,333
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH bory

Nearest frequency peer: bory (-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 « bouffi »

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 « bouffi » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bouffi
PropertyValue
Headwordbouffi
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\bu.fi\
Letters6
Frequency rank#67,333
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « bouffi » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).bouffitombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « bory » (#67,332), « bougeaient » (#67,334), « Boutros » (#67,335). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bouffi » est au #67,333. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bouffi is uncommon French at frequency #67,333 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \bu.fi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for bouffi in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is bouffi, spelled B-O-U-F-F-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Enflé de façon malsaine, maladive.
  2. 2
    Désigne le hareng présenté entier, légèrement fumé et salé.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Des visages encore bouffis de sommeil apparurent aux fenêtres ; des groupes d’hommes, en bras de chemise, de femmes en camisole et en bonnet de nuit, se formèrent, animés, sur le bas des portes.
  2. Tous les jours, je voyais cette grosse dame bouffie, importante, ressemblant à une oie gavée, se promener dans le jardin, vêtue à la russe, avec des perles et, quel que fût le temps, une ombrelle, […]

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); 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 "bouffi"?
"bouffi" is spelled B-O-U-F-F-I. The IPA pronunciation is \bu.fi\.
What does "bouffi" mean?
As an adjective, "bouffi" means: Enflé de façon malsaine, maladive.
How do you pronounce "bouffi"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bouffi" is \bu.fi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bouffi" come from?
"bouffi" 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 "bouffi", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list