brise-lames

\bʁiz.lam\

/\bʁiz.lam\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“brise-lames” 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 May 6, 2026) - Construction à claire-voie établie à l’entrée d’un port et au-dessus des eaux pour amortir la violence des flots.

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

Where “brise-lames” sits in French frequency

brise-lames falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

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

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for brise-lames, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is brise-lames, spelled B-R-I-S-E---L-A-M-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Construction à claire-voie établie à l’entrée d’un port et au-dessus des eaux pour amortir la violence des flots.
  2. 2
    Équipement de protection des navires contre les lames, les vagues de fond consistant en une avancée sur le pont de gaillard.

Synonyms

môle

This word in other languages

breakwater(English)Mole(Deutsch)

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-lames"?
"brise-lames" is spelled B-R-I-S-E---L-A-M-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \bʁiz.lam\.
What does "brise-lames" mean?
As a noun, "brise-lames" means: Construction à claire-voie établie à l’entrée d’un port et au-dessus des eaux pour amortir la violence des flots.
How do you pronounce "brise-lames"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "brise-lames" is \bʁiz.lam\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "brise-lames" come from?
"brise-lames" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “brise-lames”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is B-R-I-S-E---L-A-M-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \bʁiz.lam\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list