essaim

/\e.sɛ̃\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#33,248

in French word usage

Misspellings

6

tracked variants

Confusables

8

similar word pairs

essaim is aFrenchnoun. It means: Groupe d’abeilles domestiques lorsqu’il a quitté la ruche, dispersé en vol ou agglutiné en boule, dont le but est de fonder une nouvelle colonie. Pronounced \e.sɛ̃\. Often confused with essay and essaye.

Key facts for essaim
PropertyValue
Headwordessaim
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\e.sɛ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#33,248
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs8
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of essaim in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for essaim is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \e.sɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #33,248 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for essaim, with forms such as "esaim", "esasim", and "essaimm". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "essay", "essaye", "essais", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is essaim, spelled E-S-S-A-I-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Groupe d’abeilles domestiques lorsqu’il a quitté la ruche, dispersé en vol ou agglutiné en boule, dont le but est de fonder une nouvelle colonie.
  2. 2
    Jeune colonie d’abeilles domestiques.
  3. 3
    Ensemble d'individus sexués d'une espèce d'insectes sociaux (principalement les fourmis et les termites) regroupés lors d'un vol nuptial dans le but de s'accoupler et de fonder de nouvelles colonies. Une autre forme de reproduction collective existe par bouturage.
  4. 4
    Ensemble des individus qui vivent et travaillent de concert en constituant une colonie d’insectes sociaux comme les abeilles et les guêpes sociales ou les termites.
  5. 5
    Grande multitude d’insectes quelconques et d’autres animaux.
  6. 6
    Ensemble nombreux de personnes qui se déplacent ou s’agitent.
  7. 7
    Grande multitude abstraite ou concrète.
  8. 8
    Ensemble d'astéroïdes se déplaçant dans l'espace ou pluie de météores lorsqu'ils tombent dans l'atmosphère terrestre.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: esaim,esasim,essaimm,essami,essiam,sesaim

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for essaim

Misspelling Variants of "essaim"

esaim5esasim6essaimm7essami6essiam6sesaim6
Misspelling Variants of "essaim"

Frequency rank: #33,248 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "essaim"?
"essaim" is spelled E-S-S-A-I-M. The IPA pronunciation is \e.sɛ̃\.
What does "essaim" mean?
As a noun, "essaim" means: Groupe d’abeilles domestiques lorsqu’il a quitté la ruche, dispersé en vol ou agglutiné en boule, dont le but est de fonder une nouvelle colonie.
What words are commonly confused with "essaim"?
"essaim" is commonly confused with "essay", "essaye", "essais". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "essaim"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "essaim" is \e.sɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "essaim" come from?
"essaim" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter E in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.