mal du pays
\mal dy pɛ.i\
The verdict
“mal du pays” 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) - Sentiment de manque ou de nostalgie lorsqu’on est loin de son pays natal.
Corpus desk
Index FR-mal-du-pays · mal du pays · French
mal du pays · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mal du pays |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \mal dy pɛ.i\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « mal du pays » en français
Rare enough to double-check
mal du pays is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \mal dy pɛ.i\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Sentiment de manque ou de nostalgie lorsqu’on est loin de son pays natal.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for mal du pays in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is mal du pays, spelled M-A-L- -D-U- -P-A-Y-S.
Definition
- 1Sentiment de manque ou de nostalgie lorsqu’on est loin de son pays natal.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how mal du pays appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
En dépit de son bon vouloir, de sa passion pour le travail, le désespoir d'être loin des siens l'emportait chez Pasteur. Le mal du pays l'envahissait. Jamais le mot de nostalgie ne fut d'une application plus juste.
Je me trouvais fort bien en Auvergne, sans doute, mais je commençais à y subir le mal du pays, de mon pays, la nostalgie de ma province et de cette pittoresque région du Val-de-Saire.
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.