frein
French, noun/fʁɛ̃/
frein is spelled F-R-E-I-N (5 letters) and appears 8.5 times per million words in written French, the 7,540th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Frein is a French masculine noun meaning “brake (of a vehicle, etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Dispositif destiné à modérer la vitesse d’un mécanisme, à enrayer les roues d’un véhicule”.
What does frein mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineobsoletebit (equipment put in a horse's mouth)
- 2
masculinebrake (of a vehicle, etc.)
- 3
masculinerestraint, reserve
- 4
masculinefrenulum
frein de la langue
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Dispositif destiné à modérer la vitesse d’un mécanisme, à enrayer les roues d’un véhicule. 2. Mors, partie de la bride qu’on met dans la bouche du cheval pour le gouverner. 3. Ce qui retient dans les bornes du devoir, de la raison. 4. Ce qui constitue une entrave au bon déroulement d’une action, au bon avancement d’une entreprise commune.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of frein
- freins plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce frein?
- /fʁɛ̃/
- \fʁɛ̃\
- [fʁɛ̃]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to frein
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is frein in French?
frein appears 8.5 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).