brise-glace

\bʁiz.ɡlas\

/\bʁiz.ɡlas\/ noun

The verdict

“brise-glace” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Construction placée en amont des piles d’un pont pour briser les glaces et les séparer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-brise-glace · brise-glace · French

brise-glace · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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.

Key facts for brise-glace
PropertyValue
Headwordbrise-glace
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bʁiz.ɡlas\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « brise-glace » en français

brise-glacereste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

brise-glace is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \bʁiz.ɡlas\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for brise-glace in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is brise-glace, spelled B-R-I-S-E---G-L-A-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Construction placée en amont des piles d’un pont pour briser les glaces et les séparer.
  2. 2
    Bateau muni d’un dispositif destiné à briser la glace dans les rivières, dans les fleuves ou sur la banquise polaire en haute mer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les panneaux formant le brise-glace sont soigneusement ajustés et boulonnés, la base est scellée dans la pierre de taille.
  2. Les glaces de la mer Blanche n’avaient que peu de rapports avec celles de la banquise, et les cargos étaient précédés et convoyés par de remarquables « brise-glaces ».

This word in other languages

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "brise-glace"?
"brise-glace" is spelled B-R-I-S-E---G-L-A-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \bʁiz.ɡlas\.
What does "brise-glace" mean?
As a noun, "brise-glace" means: Construction placée en amont des piles d’un pont pour briser les glaces et les séparer.
How do you pronounce "brise-glace"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "brise-glace" is \bʁiz.ɡlas\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "brise-glace" come from?
"brise-glace" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list