mêlée
French, noun/mɛ.le/
mêlée is spelled M-Ê-L-É-E (5 letters) and appears 6.2 times per million words in written French, the 9,615th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Mêlée is a French feminine noun meaning “fray, brawl, fight, melee (especially disorganized)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a feminine singular of mêlé. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Combat opiniâtre, où deux troupes s’attaquent corps-à-corps et se mêlent”.
What does mêlée mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininefray, brawl, fight, melee (especially disorganized)
la mêlée pour monter dans le train
- 2
femininescrum
verb
- 1
femininefeminine singular of mêlé
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Combat opiniâtre, où deux troupes s’attaquent corps-à-corps et se mêlent. 2. Lutte entre plusieurs individus. 3. Contestation vive entre plusieurs personnes. 4. Guerre.
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 mêlée
- mêlées plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce mêlée?
- /mɛ.le/
- /me.le/
- \me.le\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to mêlée
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is mêlée in French?
mêlée appears 6.2 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).