fesse

\fɛs\

/\fɛs\/ noun

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

The verdict

“fesse” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #21,625) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#21,625
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères.

Corpus desk

Index FR-fesse · fesse · French

fesse · rank #21,625 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #21,625
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH fente

Nearest frequency peer: fente (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « fesse »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « fesse » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

fesse vs fête
40% similar
fesse vs fest
60% similar
fesse vs fève
40% similar

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

Key facts for fesse
PropertyValue
Headwordfesse
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fɛs\
Letters5
Frequency rank#21,625
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « fesse »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).fessese 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 « fente » (#21,624), « Fidji » (#21,626), « fascine » (#21,623). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « fesse » est au #21,625. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for fesse is neighbouring look-alikes ("fête", "fest", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \fɛs\. Frequency #21,625 among 3,276 “F” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for fesse, with forms such as "efsse", "fese", and "ffesse". 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, "fête", "fest", "fève", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is fesse, spelled F-E-S-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères.
  2. 2
    En parlant d’un voilier, la partie arrière qui s’arrondit, s’élevant au-dessus de la flottaison.
  3. 3
    La vie ou le corps d’une personne.
  4. 4
    Activité sexuelle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. C'est la plus jolie des trois. Ses cheveux tombent jusqu’aux talons. Elle a des seins et des fesses de statue.
  2. « Céline, fit-il, ça c’est une femme. — Une femme qui a du cœur, Battling, je sais. — Et des fesses », ajouta-t-il avec un geste. Il avait dit cette grossièreté par respect humain.

Synonyms

arrière-trainculQderrièrefessierfoufounemeulemichenachepopotinpostérieurséantbaisebraguettecuisseculsexe

This word in other languages

buttock(English)nalga(Español)Gesäßbacke(Deutsch)nádega(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • efsse
  • fese
  • ffesse
  • fsese

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fesse - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

efsse2fese1ffesse1fsese2
Edit distance from "fesse"

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 "fesse"?
"fesse" is spelled F-E-S-S-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fɛs\.
What does "fesse" mean?
As a noun, "fesse" means: Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères.
What words are commonly confused with "fesse"?
"fesse" is commonly confused with "fête", "fest", "fève". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fesse"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fesse" is \fɛs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fesse" come from?
"fesse" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fesse", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fente#21,624Fidji#21,626facho#21,621gamma#21,632

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list