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bourreau

French, noun/bu.ʁo/

bourreau is spelled B-O-U-R-R-E-A-U (8 letters) and appears 3.8 times per million words in written French, the 13,537th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bourreau is a French masculine noun meaning “torturer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Exécuteur des arrêts rendus par les cours criminelles, chargé de la peine capitale. Préposé à la guillotine…”.

What does bourreau mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    masculinetorturer

  2. 2

    masculineexecutioner, hangman (the person)

  3. 3

    masculineindividual who lives extravagantly

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

adjective: 1. Qui est une cause de tourment physique.

noun: 1. Exécuteur des arrêts rendus par les cours criminelles, chargé de la peine capitale. Préposé à la guillotine, avant la suppression de la peine de mort, en France. 2. Homme cruel, inhumain. 3. Personne qui ne ménage pas les autres ou soi-même. 4. Homme excessif.

noun: 1. Sac bourré de paille qui se mettait sur l'épaule pour porter un fardeau. ^([2])

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 bourreau

  • bourreaux plural
  • bourelle feminine
  • bourrelle singular feminine
  • bourrelles plural feminine

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce bourreau?

  • /bu.ʁo/
  • \bu.ʁo\

Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to bourreau

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is bourreau in French?

bourreau appears 3.8 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).

What to look up after bourreau