frai

\fʁɛ\

/\fʁɛ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“frai” is uncommon French (frequency #52,075 among 3,276 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,075
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de frayer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-frai · frai · French

frai · rank #52,075 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,075
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH foireuse

Nearest frequency peer: foireuse (-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 « frai »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for frai
PropertyValue
Headwordfrai
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fʁɛ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#52,075
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « frai » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.fraitombe 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: « foireuse » (#52,074), « fugues » (#52,077), « flegme » (#52,072). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « frai » est au #52,075. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

frai is uncommon French at frequency #52,075 among 3,276 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \fʁɛ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for frai, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is frai, spelled F-R-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de frayer.
  2. 2
    Fraie, période du frai (1), de reproduction des poissons.
  3. 3
    Période de reproduction des amphibiens.
  4. 4
    Œufs de poisson mêlés avec ce qui les rend féconds.
  5. 5
    Œufs des batraciens.
  6. 6
    Petits poissons dont on peuple les étangs.
  7. 7
    Usure subie par les pièces de monnaie à force de circuler.
  8. 8
    Prélèvement frauduleux de métal sur une pièce d’or ou d’argent.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les champs d'algues et les zones intertidales contribuent à la qualité de l'eau, facilitent la décomposition des matières organiques et constituent des sites de frai et d’alevinage.
  2. Penché des jours entiers sur le rebord de son bateau, immobile comme une souche, il épiait les jeux insolites de chaque espèce au moment du frai.

Synonyms

fraiefrayefraiesonalevinrognage

This word in other languages

roe(English)Laichen(Deutsch)

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 "frai"?
"frai" is spelled F-R-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is \fʁɛ\.
What does "frai" mean?
As a noun, "frai" means: Action de frayer.
How do you pronounce "frai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "frai" is \fʁɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "frai" come from?
"frai" 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 "frai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Guam#52,091exos#52,053esti#52,048haul#52,102

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list