mauvaise herbe

\mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\

/\mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“mauvaise herbe” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Plante envahissant les cultures et les prairies. Elle concurrence les plantes cultivées et cause un préjudice économique à l’agriculteur, qui contre cela, s’emploie à les détruire.

Key facts for mauvaise herbe
PropertyValue
Headwordmauvaise herbe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mauvaise herbe” sits in French frequency

mauvaise herbe falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for mauvaise herbe is 14 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for mauvaise herbe in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is mauvaise herbe, spelled M-A-U-V-A-I-S-E- -H-E-R-B-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Plante envahissant les cultures et les prairies. Elle concurrence les plantes cultivées et cause un préjudice économique à l’agriculteur, qui contre cela, s’emploie à les détruire.
  2. 2
    Enfant ou personne qui a grandi sans cadre moral.

Synonyms

adventicechiendentmalherbemauvaise grainechiendentengeance

This word in other languages

weed(English)mala hierba(Español)Unkraut(Deutsch)

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 "mauvaise herbe"?
"mauvaise herbe" is spelled M-A-U-V-A-I-S-E- -H-E-R-B-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\.
What does "mauvaise herbe" mean?
As a noun, "mauvaise herbe" means: Plante envahissant les cultures et les prairies. Elle concurrence les plantes cultivées et cause un préjudice économique à l’agriculteur, qui contre cela, s’emploie à les détruire.
How do you pronounce "mauvaise herbe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mauvaise herbe" is \mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mauvaise herbe" come from?
"mauvaise herbe" 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.

Using “mauvaise herbe”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is M-A-U-V-A-I-S-E- -H-E-R-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \mo.vɛ.z‿ɛʁb\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list