herpès

\ɛʁ.pɛs\

/\ɛʁ.pɛs\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“herpès” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #32,433. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#32,433
frequency rank, French
1,969
“H” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
14
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Maladie virale très contagieuse, sexuellement transmissible. Elle est caractérisée, pendant les périodes de crise, par une éruption vésiculeuse caractérisée par de légères élevures transparentes ra...

Corpus desk

Index FR-herpes · herpès · French

herpès · rank #32,433 · 10 variants · 14 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #32,433
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,969
  • PHOTO-FINISH Herr

Nearest frequency peer: Herr (+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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « herpès »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « herpès » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

herpès vs Hervé
33% similar
herpès vs heures
50% similar
herpès vs Hyères
17% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for herpès
PropertyValue
Headwordherpès
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛʁ.pɛs\
Letters6
Frequency rank#32,433
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « herpès »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).herpèsse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Herr » (#32,434), « huet » (#32,435), « hellénique » (#32,430). Parmi 1,969 lemmes en « H », « herpès » est au #32,433. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around herpès (IPA \ɛʁ.pɛs\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,433 among 1,969 “H” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for herpès, with forms such as "ehrpès", "heprès", and "herpes". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "Hervé", "heures", "Hyères", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is herpès, spelled H-E-R-P-È-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Maladie virale très contagieuse, sexuellement transmissible. Elle est caractérisée, pendant les périodes de crise, par une éruption vésiculeuse caractérisée par de légères élevures transparentes rassemblées en groupes sur une base enflammée.
  2. 2
    Bouton apparaissant sur la lèvre en manifestation de cette maladie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le virus de l’herpès comprend deux types : HSV-1 d’une part, responsable de 95 % des herpès oro-faciaux, ainsi que de nombreux herpès neuro-méningés et ophtalmiques, mais aussi de 20 à 40 % des herpès génitaux par contamination oro-génitale, HSV-2 d’autre part, responsable principalement de l’herpès génital, mais aussi de 5 % des herpès oro-faciaux.
  2. Moderna travaille sur des vaccins contre d’autres virus tels que le virus d’Epstein-Barr, les herpès, la varicelle et les norovirus responsables de la gastro-entérite.

This word in other languages

herpes(English)herpes(Español)Herpes(Deutsch)herpes(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ehrpès
  • heprès
  • herpes
  • herppès
  • herpsè
  • herpèss
  • herrpès
  • herèps
  • hherpès
  • hrepès

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of herpès - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ehrpès2heprès2herpes1herppès1herpsè2herpèss1herrpès1herèps2
Edit distance from "herpès"

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 "herpès"?
"herpès" is spelled H-E-R-P-È-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛʁ.pɛs\.
What does "herpès" mean?
As a noun, "herpès" means: Maladie virale très contagieuse, sexuellement transmissible. Elle est caractérisée, pendant les périodes de crise, par une éruption vésiculeuse caractérisée par de légères élevures transparentes ra...
What words are commonly confused with "herpès"?
"herpès" is commonly confused with "Hervé", "heures", "Hyères". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "herpès"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "herpès" is \ɛʁ.pɛs\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "herpès" come from?
"herpès" 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 "herpès", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

inapte#32,443Granby#32,421Führer#32,414furtif#32,413

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

Gustavo10 variantsjacquet10 variantsfaucons10 variantsLafleur10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list