gamay

\ɡa.mɛ\

/\ɡa.mɛ\/ noun

The verdict

“gamay” is uncommon French (frequency #60,810 among 2,617 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,810
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonyme de gamay noir qui est le nom officiel de ce cépage très utilisé en Bourgogne.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gamay · gamay · French

gamay · rank #60,810 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,810
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH Gangnam

Nearest frequency peer: Gangnam (+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 « gamay »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gamay
PropertyValue
Headwordgamay
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡa.mɛ\
Letters5
Frequency rank#60,810
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « gamay » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).gamaytombe 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: « Gangnam » (#60,811), « fétichistes » (#60,808), « Gaudet » (#60,812). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gamay » est au #60,810. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gamay is uncommon French at frequency #60,810 among 2,617 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡa.mɛ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for gamay in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is gamay, spelled G-A-M-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonyme de gamay noir qui est le nom officiel de ce cépage très utilisé en Bourgogne.
  2. 2
    Vin provenant de ce cépage.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. D’où l’idée des viticulteurs du Beaujolais de reconvertir leur cépage phare, le gamay, pour faire du crémant de Bourgogne, de changer le beaujolais blanc en bourgogne blanc, tous deux étant produits avec du chardonnay, et de replanter leurs vignes avec du pinot noir pour récolter des bourgognes rouges.
  2. Les Morange possédaient quelques parcelles de terre, sur le versant sud, où de rustiques ceps de gamay prospéraient, produisant un petit vin âcre que Pierrot avait le don de rendre goûteux, avec parfois même d’étonnantes notes fruitées.

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 "gamay"?
"gamay" is spelled G-A-M-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡa.mɛ\.
What does "gamay" mean?
As a noun, "gamay" means: Synonyme de gamay noir qui est le nom officiel de ce cépage très utilisé en Bourgogne.
How do you pronounce "gamay"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gamay" is \ɡa.mɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gamay" come from?
"gamay" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gamay", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list