maison-mère

\mɛ.zɔ̃.mɛʁ\

/\mɛ.zɔ̃.mɛʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“maison-mère” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Maison principale où résident les supérieurs d’une congrégation de l’un ou de l’autre sexe.

Corpus desk

Index FR-maison-mere · maison-mère · French

maison-mère · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" 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 maison-mère
PropertyValue
Headwordmaison-mère
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɛ.zɔ̃.mɛʁ\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « maison-mère » en français

maison-mèrereste 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

maison-mère is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \mɛ.zɔ̃.mɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for maison-mère, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is maison-mère, spelled M-A-I-S-O-N---M-È-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Maison principale où résident les supérieurs d’une congrégation de l’un ou de l’autre sexe.
  2. 2
    Siège principal d’une société détenant des filiales.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Lorsque la dotation est jugée suffisante, le prieur de la Grande-Chartreuse désigne le prieur et les moines qui prendront possession des lieux […] et la nouvelle communauté est immédiatement soumise à l’autorité de la maison-mère.
  2. À noter que c’est désormais le restaurant le plus proche de Paris-Normandie - notre maison-mère -, à Déville.

Synonyms

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 "maison-mère"?
"maison-mère" is spelled M-A-I-S-O-N---M-È-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mɛ.zɔ̃.mɛʁ\.
What does "maison-mère" mean?
As a noun, "maison-mère" means: Maison principale où résident les supérieurs d’une congrégation de l’un ou de l’autre sexe.
How do you pronounce "maison-mère"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "maison-mère" is \mɛ.zɔ̃.mɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "maison-mère" come from?
"maison-mère" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list