brethren
\ˈbɹɛð.ɹən\
The verdict
“brethren” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pluriel de brother, surtout dans le sens de « confrère ».
Corpus desk
Index FR-brethren · brethren · French
brethren · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | brethren |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ˈbɹɛð.ɹən\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « brethren » en français
Rare enough to double-check
brethren is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈbɹɛð.ɹən\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for brethren in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is brethren, spelled B-R-E-T-H-R-E-N.
Definition
- 1Pluriel de brother, surtout dans le sens de « confrère ».
- 2Ensemble des membres d’une secte ; à l’origine principalement chez les piétistes allemands du XVIIIᵉ siècle.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how brethren appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“You are lying.” The man stared at him, perfectly immobile except for the glint in the ghostly eyes. “You and your brethren possess something that is not yours.”
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.