garde-corps

\ɡaʁd(ə).kɔʁ\

/\ɡaʁd(ə).kɔʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“garde-corps” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Barrière destinée à empêcher de tomber, garde-fou (balcon, pont, terrasse, etc.)

Corpus desk

Index FR-garde-corps · garde-corps · French

garde-corps · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "G" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for garde-corps
PropertyValue
Headwordgarde-corps
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡaʁd(ə).kɔʁ\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « garde-corps » en français

garde-corpsn'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

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

Rare enough to double-check

garde-corps is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɡaʁd(ə).kɔʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

garde-corps has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is garde-corps, spelled G-A-R-D-E---C-O-R-P-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Barrière destinée à empêcher de tomber, garde-fou (balcon, pont, terrasse, etc.)
  2. 2
    Balustrade qui garnit les bords d’un navire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Lorsque l'extrémité supérieure d'une échelle aboutit au bord d'une plate-forme ses montants seront prolongés d'une hauteur de 1 m et la crinoline sera prolongée jusqu'à la hauteur du garde-corps de cette plate-forme.

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 "garde-corps"?
"garde-corps" is spelled G-A-R-D-E---C-O-R-P-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡaʁd(ə).kɔʁ\.
What does "garde-corps" mean?
As a noun, "garde-corps" means: Barrière destinée à empêcher de tomber, garde-fou (balcon, pont, terrasse, etc.)
How do you pronounce "garde-corps"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "garde-corps" is \ɡaʁd(ə).kɔʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "garde-corps" come from?
"garde-corps" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list