débonnaire

\de.bɔ.nɛʁ\

/\de.bɔ.nɛʁ\/ adj

The verdict

“débonnaire” is uncommon French (frequency #57,219 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,219
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Bon ; gentil ; bienveillant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-debonnaire · débonnaire · French

débonnaire · rank #57,219 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,219
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH duraient

Nearest frequency peer: duraient (-2 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 « débonnaire »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for débonnaire
PropertyValue
Headworddébonnaire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\de.bɔ.nɛʁ\
Letters10
Frequency rank#57,219
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « débonnaire » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).débonnairetombe 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: « duraient » (#57,217), « décapant » (#57,221), « drôlerie » (#57,216). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « débonnaire » est au #57,219. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

débonnaire is uncommon French at frequency #57,219 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \de.bɔ.nɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

débonnaire doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is débonnaire, spelled D-É-B-O-N-N-A-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Bon ; gentil ; bienveillant.
  2. 2
    Conciliant ; facile à vivre ; indulgent ; tolérant.
  3. 3
    Trop conciliant, d’une gentillesse qui confine à la faiblesse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. C’était un prince débonnaire aimé du peuple.
  2. Le médecin obligea petit Jacques à lâcher ses fourneaux pour être valet. Il entra en cette qualité chez une vieille dame, autoritaire et hautaine avec tout le monde, seulement débonnaire avec lui, Mme Silencemoï, la veuve du fabricant de soie végétale.

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); 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 "débonnaire"?
"débonnaire" is spelled D-É-B-O-N-N-A-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \de.bɔ.nɛʁ\.
What does "débonnaire" mean?
As an adjective, "débonnaire" means: Bon ; gentil ; bienveillant.
How do you pronounce "débonnaire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "débonnaire" is \de.bɔ.nɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "débonnaire" come from?
"débonnaire" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "débonnaire", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list