lès
French, preposition
lès is spelled L-È-S (3 letters) and appears 17,783 times per million words in written French, the 7th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Lès is a French preposition meaning “alternative form of lez” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). Without its accent, les is a different word: “plural of le: the”. With an accent, lés is a different word: “plural of lé”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Près de”.
What does lès mean in English?
preposition
- 1
alternative form of lez
article
- 1
plural of le: the
- 2
plural of la: the
pronoun
- 1
femininemasculineplural of le: them
- 2
femininemasculineplural of la: them
noun
- 1
masculineplural of lé
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
article: 1. Pluriel de le ou la. 2. . Singulier ou pluriel de le ou la.
pronoun: 1. Pronom personnel de la troisième personne du pluriel accusatif.
preposition: 1. Près de
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of lès
- le singular masculine
- la singular feminine
- lez
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to lès
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is lès in French?
lès appears 17,783 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).