maître Jacques

\mɛ.tʁə ʒak\

/\mɛ.tʁə ʒak\/ noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Homme qui réunit plusieurs emplois.

Corpus desk

Index FR-maitre-jacques · maître Jacques · French

maître Jacques · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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 maître Jacques
PropertyValue
Headwordmaître Jacques
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɛ.tʁə ʒak\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « maître Jacques » en français

maître Jacquessiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

maître Jacques is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \mɛ.tʁə ʒak\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Homme qui réunit plusieurs emplois.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for maître Jacques, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is maître Jacques, spelled M-A-Î-T-R-E- -J-A-C-Q-U-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Homme qui réunit plusieurs emplois.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Cette boutique était tenue par une espèce de maître Jacques auquel grands et petits pouvaient demander, suivant le prospectus : boîtes, échasses, outils, pigeons cravatés, pattus, livres de messe (article rarement vendu), canifs, papiers, plumes, crayons, encre de toutes les couleurs, balles, billes.
  2. Les guides, véritables maîtres Jacques, sont tour à tour valets de chambre, cicéroni et cuisiniers. Ils remplissent ces emplois avec adresse : quelques-uns parlent anglais.

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 "maître Jacques"?
"maître Jacques" is spelled M-A-Î-T-R-E- -J-A-C-Q-U-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \mɛ.tʁə ʒak\.
What does "maître Jacques" mean?
As a noun, "maître Jacques" means: Homme qui réunit plusieurs emplois.
How do you pronounce "maître Jacques"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "maître Jacques" is \mɛ.tʁə ʒak\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "maître Jacques" come from?
"maître Jacques" 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