frères et sœurs

\fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\

/\fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“frères et sœurs” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Les frères et les sœurs d’une personne, en sachant qu’il y a au moins un frère et au moins une sœur.

Key facts for frères et sœurs
PropertyValue
Headwordfrères et sœurs
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “frères et sœurs” sits in French frequency

frères et sœurs falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for frères et sœurs is 15 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for frères et sœurs, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is frères et sœurs, spelled F-R-È-R-E-S- -E-T- -S-Œ-U-R-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Les frères et les sœurs d’une personne, en sachant qu’il y a au moins un frère et au moins une sœur.
  2. 2
    Des frères et des sœurs d’une personne, dans un contexte interrogatif, négatif ou inconnu.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "frères et sœurs"?
"frères et sœurs" is spelled F-R-È-R-E-S- -E-T- -S-Œ-U-R-S. The IPA pronunciation is \fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\.
What does "frères et sœurs" mean?
As a noun, "frères et sœurs" means: Les frères et les sœurs d’une personne, en sachant qu’il y a au moins un frère et au moins une sœur.
How do you pronounce "frères et sœurs"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "frères et sœurs" is \fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "frères et sœurs" come from?
"frères et sœurs" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “frères et sœurs”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is F-R-È-R-E-S- -E-T- -S-Œ-U-R-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \fʁɛ.ʁ‿e sœʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list