fermer

/\fɛʁ.me\/ verb

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#2,424

in French word usage

Misspellings

9

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

fermer is aFrenchverb. It means: Clore ce qui était ouvert, par une porte, un couvercle, une trappe, etc. Pronounced \fɛʁ.me\. It ranks #2,424 in French word frequency. Often confused with forme and fumer.

Key facts for fermer
PropertyValue
Headwordfermer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\fɛʁ.me\
Letters6
Frequency rank#2,424
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of fermer in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for fermer is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fɛʁ.me\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,424 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for fermer, with forms such as "efrmer", "femrer", and "feremr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "forme", "fumer", "firme", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is fermer, spelled F-E-R-M-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Clore ce qui était ouvert, par une porte, un couvercle, une trappe, etc.
  2. 2
    Clore un édifice, un établissement, un lieu de réunion, etc., en vue d'interrompre ce qui s'y faisait, momentanément ou définitivement.
  3. 3
    Interdire ; mettre en interdiction.
  4. 4
    Cesser un commerce, une occupation.
  5. 5
    Boucher une ouverture, une entrée, un passage et se dit en parlant des objets qui servent à la clôture.
  6. 6
    Interrompre un passage, le rendre impossible ou très difficile.
  7. 7
    Empêcher, par une résistance, par une défense quelconque, l’accès, l’entrée ou la sortie.
  8. 8
    Enclore.
  9. 9
    Rapprocher l’une contre l'autre des parties dont l’écartement formait une ouverture.
  10. 10
    Clore, arrêter, terminer.
  11. 11
    Être clos, se clore.
  12. 12
    Éteindre.
  13. 13
    Se renfermer sur soi-même, stopper tout dialogue.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: efrmer,femrer,feremr,fermerr,fermmer,fermre,ferrmer,ffermer,fremer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for fermer

Misspelling Variants of "fermer"

efrmer6femrer6feremr6fermerr7fermmer7fermre6ferrmer7ffermer7
Misspelling Variants of "fermer"

Frequency rank: #2,424 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fermer"?
"fermer" is spelled F-E-R-M-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \fɛʁ.me\.
What does "fermer" mean?
As a verb, "fermer" means: Clore ce qui était ouvert, par une porte, un couvercle, une trappe, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "fermer"?
"fermer" is commonly confused with "forme", "fumer", "firme". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fermer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fermer" is \fɛʁ.me\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fermer" come from?
"fermer" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter F in our French index:

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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.