dreads

\dʁɛd\

/\dʁɛd\/ noun

The verdict

“dreads” is uncommon French (frequency #61,459 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,459
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-dreads · dreads · French

dreads · rank #61,459 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,459
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH doublette

Nearest frequency peer: doublette (-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 « dreads »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dreads
PropertyValue
Headworddreads
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\dʁɛd\
Letters6
Frequency rank#61,459
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dreads » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.dreadstombe 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: « doublette » (#61,458), « dromadaires » (#61,460), « douar » (#61,457). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dreads » est au #61,459. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dreads is uncommon French at frequency #61,459 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \dʁɛd\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dreadlocks.".

dreads has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is dreads, spelled D-R-E-A-D-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dreadlocks.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Bizarrement, une fois détachées de sa tête, les dreads avaient un air sinistre.
  2. Elle avait remonté ses dreads en un gigantesque chignon, ce qui dégageait son beau visage délicat.

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list