faire le malin
\fɛʁ lə ma.lɛ̃\
The verdict
“faire le malin” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Frimer.
Corpus desk
Index FR-faire-le-malin · faire le malin · French
faire le malin · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | faire le malin |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \fɛʁ lə ma.lɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « faire le malin » en français
Rare enough to double-check
faire le malin is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \fɛʁ lə ma.lɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
faire le malin has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, 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 faire le malin, spelled F-A-I-R-E- -L-E- -M-A-L-I-N.
Definition
- 1Frimer.
- 2Faire l’intéressant, faire des choses inhabituelles pour se donner en spectacle.
- 3Feinter ; tricher.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how faire le malin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Fallait qu’ils jactent, qu’ils fanfaronnent, qu’ils racontent tout fort leurs petites astuces cheloues, pour faire les malins. Et ça finissait toujours à leur désavantage, ces cons.
Haha ! Tu fais moins le malin, hein, indigène de mes couilles ! Je peux parler ta langue de geek, maintenant !
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.