breakdown

\ˈbɹeɪk.ˌdaʊn\

/\ˈbɹeɪk.ˌdaʊn\/ noun

The verdict

“breakdown” is uncommon French (frequency #67,338 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,338
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Panne.

Corpus desk

Index FR-breakdown · breakdown · French

breakdown · rank #67,338 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,338
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH bravement

Nearest frequency peer: bravement (-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 « breakdown »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for breakdown
PropertyValue
Headwordbreakdown
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˈbɹeɪk.ˌdaʊn\
Letters9
Frequency rank#67,338
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « breakdown » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).breakdowntombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « bravement » (#67,337), « brame » (#67,336), « Boutros » (#67,335). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « breakdown » est au #67,338. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

breakdown is uncommon French at frequency #67,338 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈbɹeɪk.ˌdaʊn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for breakdown, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 breakdown, spelled B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Panne.
  2. 2
    Casse, action de casser.
  3. 3
    Décomposition, énumération, nomenclature, ventilation.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. R.B.S. (Resource Breakdown Structure)
  2. In order to set out an appropriate financial framework for the Funds it is necessary to set out the annual breakdown by Member State of global resources allocated under the Investment for jobs and growth goal and the European territorial cooperation goal (Interreg).

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 "breakdown"?
"breakdown" is spelled B-R-E-A-K-D-O-W-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈbɹeɪk.ˌdaʊn\.
What does "breakdown" mean?
As a noun, "breakdown" means: Panne.
How do you pronounce "breakdown"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "breakdown" is \ˈbɹeɪk.ˌdaʊn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "breakdown" come from?
"breakdown" 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 "breakdown", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list