bourreau

/\bu.ʁo\/ adj

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#13,522

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

bourreau is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui est une cause de tourment physique. Pronounced \bu.ʁo\. Often confused with bureau and bourrée.

Key facts for bourreau
PropertyValue
Headwordbourreau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\bu.ʁo\
Letters8
Frequency rank#13,522
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of bourreau in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for bourreau is 8 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \bu.ʁo\. Corpus data places it at rank #13,522 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Qui est une cause de tourment physique.".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for bourreau, with forms such as "bbourreau", "borureau", and "boureau". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "bureau", "bourrée", "bourrer", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is bourreau, spelled B-O-U-R-R-E-A-U, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est une cause de tourment physique.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bbourreau,borureau,boureau,bourerau,bourraeu,bourreua,buorreau,oburreau

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for bourreau

Misspelling Variants of "bourreau"

bbourreau9borureau8boureau7bourerau8bourraeu8bourreua8buorreau8oburreau8
Misspelling Variants of "bourreau"

Frequency rank: #13,522 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bourreau"?
"bourreau" is spelled B-O-U-R-R-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \bu.ʁo\.
What does "bourreau" mean?
As an adj, "bourreau" means: Qui est une cause de tourment physique.
What words are commonly confused with "bourreau"?
"bourreau" is commonly confused with "bureau", "bourrée", "bourrer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bourreau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bourreau" is \bu.ʁo\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bourreau" come from?
"bourreau" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter B in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.