étaye
\e.tɛj\
The verdict
“étaye” is uncommon French (frequency #84,466 among 40,273 “É” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #84,466
- frequency rank, French
- 40,273
- “É” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de étayer.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | étaye |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \e.tɛj\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #84,466 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “étaye” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
étaye is uncommon French at frequency #84,466 among 40,273 “É” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \e.tɛj\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
étaye has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is étaye, spelled É-T-A-Y-E.
Definition
- 1Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de étayer.
- 2Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de étayer.
- 3Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de étayer.
- 4Troisième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de étayer.
- 5Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de étayer.
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
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Using “étaye”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is É-T-A-Y-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \e.tɛj\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.