estre

\ɛtʁ\

/\ɛtʁ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“estre” is uncommon French (frequency #50,206 among 3,255 “E” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,206
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ancienne orthographe de être.

Corpus desk

Index FR-estre · estre · French

estre · rank #50,206 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #50,206
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH esquimaux

Nearest frequency peer: esquimaux (-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 « estre »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for estre
PropertyValue
Headwordestre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ɛtʁ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#50,206
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « estre » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.estretombe 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: « esquimaux » (#50,205), « eren » (#50,204), « exalte » (#50,208). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « estre » est au #50,206. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

estre is uncommon French at frequency #50,206 among 3,255 “E” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ɛtʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ancienne orthographe de être.".

Zero misspellings are on record for estre in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is estre, spelled E-S-T-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ancienne orthographe de être.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Vous les découvrirez par fois dans le temps doux, & quand il faira Soleil, pour les revigoter, estant soigneux de les recouvrir la nuict, de peur d’estre surpris de quelque gelée.
  2. on pe pas tous estre comme sa

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 "estre"?
"estre" is spelled E-S-T-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛtʁ\.
What does "estre" mean?
As a verb, "estre" means: Ancienne orthographe de être.
How do you pronounce "estre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "estre" is \ɛtʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "estre" come from?
"estre" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fifth#50,212fissa#50,213draco#50,173divas#50,169

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list