jamais

/\ʒa.mɛ\/ adv

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#116

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

9

similar word pairs

jamais is anFrenchadv. It means: En un temps quelconque, futur ou hypothétique. Pronounced \ʒa.mɛ\. It ranks #116 in French word frequency. Often confused with James and Jamie.

Key facts for jamais
PropertyValue
Headwordjamais
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdv
IPA\ʒa.mɛ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#116
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of jamais in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for jamais is 6 letters long, classified as anadv, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʒa.mɛ\. Corpus data places it at rank #116 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for jamais, with forms such as "ajmais", "jaamis", and "jamaiss". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "James", "Jamie", "jamal", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is jamais, spelled J-A-M-A-I-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    En un temps quelconque, futur ou hypothétique.
  2. 2
    En nul temps, à aucune occasion, en aucune façon — Note d’usage : Se rencontre combiné avec la particule négative ne (sauf, en réponse à une question, où son omission est de règle).
  3. 3
    En nul temps, à aucune occasion, en aucune façon — Note d’usage : Se rencontre combiné avec la particule négative ne (sauf, en réponse à une question, où son omission est de règle).
  4. 4
    En nul temps, à aucune occasion, en aucune façon — Note d’usage : Se rencontre combiné avec la particule négative ne (sauf, en réponse à une question, où son omission est de règle).
  5. 5
    En nul temps, à aucune occasion, en aucune façon — Note d’usage : Se rencontre combiné avec la particule négative ne (sauf, en réponse à une question, où son omission est de règle).

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ajmais,jaamis,jamaiss,jamasi,jamias,jammais,jjamais,jmaais

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for jamais

Misspelling Variants of "jamais"

ajmais6jaamis6jamaiss7jamasi6jamias6jammais7jjamais7jmaais6
Misspelling Variants of "jamais"

Frequency rank: #116 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "jamais"?
"jamais" is spelled J-A-M-A-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ʒa.mɛ\.
What does "jamais" mean?
As an adv, "jamais" means: En un temps quelconque, futur ou hypothétique.
What words are commonly confused with "jamais"?
"jamais" is commonly confused with "James", "Jamie", "jamal". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "jamais"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "jamais" is \ʒa.mɛ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "jamais" come from?
"jamais" 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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter J in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.