fein

\faɪn\

/\faɪn\/ adj

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

The verdict

“fein” is uncommon French (frequency #63,746 among 3,276 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,746
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fin, très petit.

Corpus desk

Index FR-fein · fein · French

fein · rank #63,746 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,746
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH favor

Nearest frequency peer: favor (-2 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 « fein »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for fein
PropertyValue
Headwordfein
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\faɪn\
Letters4
Frequency rank#63,746
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « fein » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.feintombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « favor » (#63,744), « fermoir » (#63,748), « faris » (#63,743). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « fein » est au #63,746. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

fein is uncommon French at frequency #63,746 among 3,276 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \faɪn\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

fein doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is fein, spelled F-E-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fin, très petit.
  2. 2
    Bon, de bonne qualité.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. [Feinpartikel können] tief in die feinsten Verästelungen der Lunge eindringen und von dort zum Teil in die Lymph- und Blutbahnen.
  2. Ein besseres Hilfsmittel (zum Vertreiben von Wespen) ist ein Zerstäuber mit Wasser für einen feinen Sprühnebel. So lässt sich ein Regenschauer simulieren und die Tiere flüchten in ihr Nest.

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 "fein"?
"fein" is spelled F-E-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \faɪn\.
What does "fein" mean?
As an adjective, "fein" means: Fin, très petit.
How do you pronounce "fein"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fein" is \faɪn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fein" come from?
"fein" 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 "fein", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Fiji#63,755fore#63,765Elke#63,711egal#63,709

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list