flambé

\flɑ̃.be\

/\flɑ̃.be\/ adj

The verdict

“flambé” is uncommon French (frequency #53,349 among 3,276 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,349
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Enflammé à l’aide d’alcool ou d’un spiritueux.

Corpus desk

Index FR-flambe · flambé · French

flambé · rank #53,349 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,349
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH Firenze

Nearest frequency peer: Firenze (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « flambé »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for flambé
PropertyValue
Headwordflambé
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\flɑ̃.be\
Letters6
Frequency rank#53,349
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « flambé » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).flambétombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « Firenze » (#53,348), « FLNC » (#53,350), « fastueux » (#53,347). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « flambé » est au #53,349. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

flambé is uncommon French at frequency #53,349 among 3,276 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \flɑ̃.be\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

flambé doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is flambé, spelled F-L-A-M-B-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Enflammé à l’aide d’alcool ou d’un spiritueux.
  2. 2
    Qui est ruiné ou perdu ; dont il n’y a plus rien à attendre.
  3. 3
    Qualifie un tissu chiné par la chaîne.
  4. 4
    Qualifie un navire, à qui l’amiral signalait par un pavillon que sa manœuvre était mal exécutée.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ce n’est pas boire, je suppose, que goûter à ces pêches flambées.
  2. […] je sais ce que c'est... j'ai eu un coup de sang... j'en aurai un second dans deux heures ou dans deux mois... c'est une affaire de temps... je suis f... lambé... je m'en fiche... mais il y a un gamin, ça m'intéresse... […]

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 "flambé"?
"flambé" is spelled F-L-A-M-B-É. The IPA pronunciation is \flɑ̃.be\.
What does "flambé" mean?
As an adjective, "flambé" means: Enflammé à l’aide d’alcool ou d’un spiritueux.
How do you pronounce "flambé"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "flambé" is \flɑ̃.be\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "flambé" come from?
"flambé" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "flambé", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list