gai

\ɡe\

/\ɡe\/ adj

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

The verdict

“gai” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #12,582) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#12,582
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Enjoué, joyeux.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gai · gai · French

gai · rank #12,582 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,582
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH frustrant

Nearest frequency peer: frustrant (-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 « gai »

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

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « gai » 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).

gai vs go
33% similar
gai vs GR
0% similar
gai vs GT
0% similar

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

Key facts for gai
PropertyValue
Headwordgai
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɡe\
Letters3
Frequency rank#12,582
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « gai »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.gaise place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « frustrant » (#12,581), « gif » (#12,583), « frappant » (#12,580). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gai » est au #12,582. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for gai is neighbouring look-alikes ("go", "GR", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \ɡe\. Frequency #12,582 among 2,617 “G” headwords. 11 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

gai doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "go", "GR", "GT", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is gai, spelled G-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    Enjoué, joyeux.
  2. 2
    Qui porte le caractère de la gaieté, en parlant des choses.
  3. 3
    Où règne la gaieté.
  4. 4
    Qui inspire la gaieté.
  5. 5
    Qui a ingéré une substance enivrante.
  6. 6
    Allegro.
  7. 7
    Qui a trop de jeu, qui n’est pas assez serré.
  8. 8
    Se dit d’un mât ou de tout autre objet, lorsqu’il est trop lâche dans son trou ou dans la place qu’il occupe.
  9. 9
    Vif, léger et brillant, en parlant des couleurs.
  10. 10
    Gaillard, libertin.
  11. 11
    Gay.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Quoi qu’il en soit, l’espérance de revoir le pauvre baron gai et gaillard m’a bien épargné de la tristesse.
  2. Et presque tous les jours, sur le minuit, il se croyait gai, parce qu’il était un peu ivre.

Synonyms

béatcomblécontentenchantéépanouiheureuxbienheureuxjoyeuxraviréjouisatisfaitbon vivantensoleilléenthousiasteégayantéveilléjovialjuvénileprintaniersouriantpompette

Antonyms

dépitédésenchantémalheureuxtriste

This word in other languages

cheerful(English)alegre(Español)fröhlich(Deutsch)festivo(Português)

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 "gai"?
"gai" is spelled G-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡe\.
What does "gai" mean?
As an adjective, "gai" means: Enjoué, joyeux.
What words are commonly confused with "gai"?
"gai" is commonly confused with "go", "GR", "GT". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gai" is \ɡe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gai" come from?
"gai" 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 "gai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

gif#12,583has#12,589eco#12,561lus#12,613

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list