herd

\hɜːd\

/\hɜːd\/ noun

The verdict

“herd” is uncommon French (frequency #91,778 among 1,969 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,778
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Collection, ensemble, troupe, bande.

Corpus desk

Index FR-herd · herd · French

herd · rank #91,778 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,778
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH herbeuses

Nearest frequency peer: herbeuses (-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 « herd »

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for herd
PropertyValue
Headwordherd
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\hɜːd\
Letters4
Frequency rank#91,778
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « herd » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).herdtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « herbeuses » (#91,777), « hermano » (#91,779), « hellénisme » (#91,776). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « herd » est au #91,778. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

herd is uncommon French at frequency #91,778 among 1,969 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \hɜːd\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

herd has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists 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 herd, spelled H-E-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Collection, ensemble, troupe, bande.
  2. 2
    Troupeau.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. 3,000 cattle from the herds which tested positive for markers indicating potential dioxin contamination were slaughtered. (The Independant, 10 décembre 2008)

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 "herd"?
"herd" is spelled H-E-R-D. The IPA pronunciation is \hɜːd\.
What does "herd" mean?
As a noun, "herd" means: Collection, ensemble, troupe, bande.
How do you pronounce "herd"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "herd" is \hɜːd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "herd" come from?
"herd" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list