embrayer

\ɑ̃.bʁe.je\

/\ɑ̃.bʁe.je\/ verb

The verdict

“embrayer” is uncommon French (frequency #83,827 among 3,255 “E” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,827
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mettre les parties d’un mécanisme qui doivent être mues en communication avec le moteur.

Corpus desk

Index FR-embrayer · embrayer · French

embrayer · rank #83,827 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,827
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH embaume

Nearest frequency peer: embaume (-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 « embrayer »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for embrayer
PropertyValue
Headwordembrayer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ɑ̃.bʁe.je\
Letters8
Frequency rank#83,827
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « embrayer » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).embrayertombe 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: « embaume » (#83,826), « Elisha » (#83,824), « encaisses » (#83,830). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « embrayer » est au #83,827. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

embrayer is uncommon French at frequency #83,827 among 3,255 “E” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ɑ̃.bʁe.je\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for embrayer, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is embrayer, spelled E-M-B-R-A-Y-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mettre les parties d’un mécanisme qui doivent être mues en communication avec le moteur.
  2. 2
    Commencer une action, à la suite d'une précédente. Réagir.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. J’accompagne Detlev qui veut acheter de la came. On rencontre des copains, et je répète tout le temps : « C’est dégueulasse, ce qui est arrivé à Axel. » Mais les autres n’embraient pas.

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 "embrayer"?
"embrayer" is spelled E-M-B-R-A-Y-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.bʁe.je\.
What does "embrayer" mean?
As a verb, "embrayer" means: Mettre les parties d’un mécanisme qui doivent être mues en communication avec le moteur.
How do you pronounce "embrayer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "embrayer" is \ɑ̃.bʁe.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "embrayer" come from?
"embrayer" 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 "embrayer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list