has-been
^((h aspiré))\az.bin\
The verdict
“has-been” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Passé de mode.
Corpus desk
Index FR-has-been · has-been · French
has-been · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "H" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | has-been |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | ^((h aspiré))\az.bin\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « has-been » en français
Rare enough to double-check
has-been is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed ^((h aspiré))\az.bin\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Passé de mode.".
No misspelling variants are generated for has-been in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is has-been, spelled H-A-S---B-E-E-N.
Definition
- 1Passé de mode.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how has-been appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lorsqu'il a racheté ce petit dancing, en 1986, ce n'était qu'un modeste « parquet » où les sexagénaires des villages entre Narbonne et Béziers aimaient se retrouver le samedi soir pour danser le tango et la valse au rythme d'un orchestre local. L'endroit était franchement has-been et la clientèle s'amenuisait. « Le Gentleman » était, à l'époque, une espèc…
Peut-être étais-je totalement has-been, accrochée au passé le plus mort, comme Tobold me l'avait souvent reproché, d'ailleurs, disait-il, tous les écrivains sont has-been, ils se croient supérieurs alors qu'ils sont complètement dépassés, […].
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.