herbacé

\ɛʁ.ba.se\

/\ɛʁ.ba.se\/ adj

The verdict

“herbacé” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est de la nature de l’herbe.

Corpus desk

Index FR-herbace · herbacé · French

herbacé · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 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.

Key facts for herbacé
PropertyValue
Headwordherbacé
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ɛʁ.ba.se\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « herbacé » en français

herbacéreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

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

Rare enough to double-check

herbacé is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ɛʁ.ba.se\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for herbacé, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 herbacé, spelled H-E-R-B-A-C-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est de la nature de l’herbe.
  2. 2
    Se dit d’une plante non ligneuse (dont la tige n’a pas la consistance du bois), le terme de plantes herbacées désignant pour sa part des plantes non ligneuses dont la partie aérienne meurt après la fructification.
  3. 3
    Qui est couvert d’herbes.
  4. 4
    Qualifie des arômes développant des notes d’herbe, de verdure, de rafle, de sureau ou de poivron vert.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. À la rigueur on peut voir des liens entre une plante herbacée et un arbre de la forêt. Il est possible que l’humus produit par les feuilles de Conifères conviennent à ces plantes, mais l’inverse est insoutenable.
  2. La lande à Cytisus scoparius se caractérise à la fois par sa pauvreté floristique et sa monotonie ; l’insuffisance de l’éclairement y réduit la strate herbacée dont la composition est encore troublée par le pâturage […]

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 "herbacé"?
"herbacé" is spelled H-E-R-B-A-C-É. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛʁ.ba.se\.
What does "herbacé" mean?
As an adjective, "herbacé" means: Qui est de la nature de l’herbe.
How do you pronounce "herbacé"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "herbacé" is \ɛʁ.ba.se\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "herbacé" come from?
"herbacé" 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