bouffon
French, noun/bu.fɔ̃/
bouffon is spelled B-O-U-F-F-O-N (7 letters) and appears 2.5 times per million words in written French, the 17,903rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bouffon is a French masculine noun meaning “fool (person who entertained a sovereign)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Personnage dont la fonction était d’amuser la cour des nobles”.
What does bouffon mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinefool (person who entertained a sovereign)
- 2
masculinebuffoon, fool (someone foolish)
adjective
- 1
grotesque, silly, clownlike
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qualifie un genre théâtral du Moyen Âge. 2. Qui fait rire par extrême ridicule. 3. Qualifie ce qui est comique dans les ouvrages de l’esprit.
noun: 1. Personnage dont la fonction était d’amuser la cour des nobles. 2. Personnage de théâtre dont l’emploi est de faire rire. 3. Personne qui prend à tâche de faire rire. 4. Personne stupide ou ridicule.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of bouffon
- bouffons plural
- bouffonne feminine
- bouffonnes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce bouffon?
- /bu.fɔ̃/
- \bu.fɔ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to bouffon
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bouffon in French?
bouffon appears 2.5 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).