bourbe

\buʁb\

/\buʁb\/ noun

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

The verdict

“bourbe” is uncommon French (frequency #78,197 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,197
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fond des eaux croupissantes des étangs et des marais.

Corpus desk

Index FR-bourbe · bourbe · French

bourbe · rank #78,197 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,197
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH bouleversées

Nearest frequency peer: bouleversées (-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 « bourbe »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bourbe
PropertyValue
Headwordbourbe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\buʁb\
Letters6
Frequency rank#78,197
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « bourbe » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).bourbetombe 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: « bouleversées » (#78,196), « bower » (#78,198), « Bougival » (#78,195). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « bourbe » est au #78,197. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bourbe is uncommon French at frequency #78,197 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \buʁb\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for bourbe, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is bourbe, spelled B-O-U-R-B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fond des eaux croupissantes des étangs et des marais.
  2. 2
    Pus épaissi.
  3. 3
    Dépôt du vin, marc.
  4. 4
    Chose abjecte.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Bourbe épaisse.
  2. Un fossé plein de bourbe.

Synonyms

vasefangeboue

This word in other languages

mire(English)cieno(Español)Morast(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 "bourbe"?
"bourbe" is spelled B-O-U-R-B-E. The IPA pronunciation is \buʁb\.
What does "bourbe" mean?
As a noun, "bourbe" means: Fond des eaux croupissantes des étangs et des marais.
How do you pronounce "bourbe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bourbe" is \buʁb\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bourbe" come from?
"bourbe" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "bourbe", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

brenne#78,204bobard#78,189bigger#78,183buquet#78,216

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list