étayer

\e.tɛ.je\

/\e.tɛ.je\/ verb

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

The verdict

“étayer” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #23,741. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#23,741
frequency rank, French
1,805
“É” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Appuyer, soutenir une structure avec un ou des étais.

Corpus desk

Index FR-etayer · étayer · French

étayer · rank #23,741 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #23,741
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,805
  • PHOTO-FINISH épinards

Nearest frequency peer: épinards (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « étayer »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « étayer » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

étayer vs éther
67% similar
étayer vs évader
67% similar
étayer vs étirer
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for étayer
PropertyValue
Headwordétayer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\e.tɛ.je\
Letters6
Frequency rank#23,741
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « étayer »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).étayerse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « épinards » (#23,740), « abdos » (#23,742), « émail » (#23,739). Parmi 1,805 lemmes en « É », « étayer » est au #23,741. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around étayer (IPA \e.tɛ.je\), averb. Corpus frequency is #23,741 among 1,805 “É” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for étayer, with forms such as "etayer", "téayer", and "éatyer". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "éther", "évader", "étirer", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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 étayer, spelled É-T-A-Y-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Appuyer, soutenir une structure avec un ou des étais.
  2. 2
    Soutenir le poids d’une personne.
  3. 3
    Ajouter de la crédibilité à un discours, une thèse.
  4. 4
    Soutenir moralement une personne, sa progression, ses démarches, en particulier dans le cadre d’un suivi thérapeutique.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Vous la ferez réparer, monsieur Hobson, dès que la belle saison sera venue, répondit Mrs. Paulina Barnett, et vous profiterez de l’expérience pour l’étayer plus solidement.
  2. Les mines sont étançonnées et étayées avec du bois auquel on met le feu, ce qui fait tomber une partie des défenses de la barbacane.

Synonyms

corroborerdocumenterportersourcersoutenir

This word in other languages

prop up(English)apuntalar(Español)apoiar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etayer
  • téayer
  • éatyer
  • étaeyr
  • étayerr
  • étayre
  • étayyer
  • éttayer
  • étyaer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of étayer - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

etayer1téayer2éatyer2étaeyr2étayerr1étayre2étayyer1éttayer1
Edit distance from "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

How do you spell "étayer"?
"étayer" is spelled É-T-A-Y-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \e.tɛ.je\.
What does "étayer" mean?
As a verb, "étayer" means: Appuyer, soutenir une structure avec un ou des étais.
What words are commonly confused with "étayer"?
"étayer" is commonly confused with "éther", "évader", "étirer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "étayer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "étayer" is \e.tɛ.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "étayer" come from?
"étayer" 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 "étayer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

accros#23,743Xiaomi#23,736vécues#23,734aisées#23,749

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

ambiguë9 variantstueries9 variantstrousses9 variantsattelage9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list