bouffonne

\bu.fɔn\

/\bu.fɔn\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“bouffonne” is uncommon French (frequency #72,126 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,126
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Personnage dont la fonction était d’amuser la cour des nobles.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bouffonne · bouffonne · French

bouffonne · rank #72,126 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,126
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH bouffeur

Nearest frequency peer: bouffeur (-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 « bouffonne »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bouffonne
PropertyValue
Headwordbouffonne
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bu.fɔn\
Letters9
Frequency rank#72,126
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « bouffonne » en français

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

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « bouffeur » (#72,125), « bouquiner » (#72,127), « borna » (#72,124). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bouffonne » est au #72,126. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bouffonne is uncommon French at frequency #72,126 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \bu.fɔn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for bouffonne, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is bouffonne, spelled B-O-U-F-F-O-N-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personnage dont la fonction était d’amuser la cour des nobles.
  2. 2
    Personnage de théâtre dont l’emploi est de faire rire.
  3. 3
    Personne stupide ou ridicule.

This word in other languages

joculatrix(English)hazmerreír(Español)Närrin(Deutsch)

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 "bouffonne"?
"bouffonne" is spelled B-O-U-F-F-O-N-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bu.fɔn\.
What does "bouffonne" mean?
As a noun, "bouffonne" means: Personnage dont la fonction était d’amuser la cour des nobles.
How do you pronounce "bouffonne"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bouffonne" is \bu.fɔn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bouffonne" come from?
"bouffonne" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "bouffonne", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

bouquiner#72,127blessants#72,118bénissent#72,145Callaghan#72,150

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list