merde

\mɛʁd\

/\mɛʁd\/ noun

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

The verdict

“merde” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #481. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#481
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Excrément de personne ou d’animal.

Corpus desk

Index FR-merde · merde · French

merde · rank #481 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #481
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH membres

Nearest frequency peer: membres (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « merde »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « merde » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

merde vs Mère
40% similar
merde vs mode
60% similar
merde vs more
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for merde
PropertyValue
Headwordmerde
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɛʁd\
Letters5
Frequency rank#481
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « merde »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).merdese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « membres » (#480), « parmi » (#482), « jouer » (#479). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « merde » est au #481. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around merde (IPA \mɛʁd\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #481 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for merde, with forms such as "emrde", "medre", and "merdde". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Mère", "mode", "more", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is merde, spelled M-E-R-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Excrément de personne ou d’animal.
  2. 2
    Chose sans valeur ; objet de mauvaise qualité.
  3. 3
    Personne méprisable, sans valeur.
  4. 4
    Situation inextricable.
  5. 5
    Fait désagréable, incommodité, incident de la vie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ce pourquoi à tout, on préférait la merde du jeune homme sain — et parfois même celle, connue sous le nom de méconium, qui résultait de « la première déjection que font les enfants après leur naissance » — jusqu’à asservir un homme spécialement à cet office […]
  2. Ici, cependant, la merde est un objet de culte. La patine n'est pas autre chose qu'une cochonnerie que le temps accumule sur les immeubles, sur les objets, sur les meubles, etc.

Synonyms

branbrencacacrottedéjectionétronexcrémentfècesmardemerdreordurepoposelleterre jaunepacotillecochonneriecamelotequincailleriebousedaubeenculétrou de cultrou du cul

This word in other languages

shit(English)mierda(Español)Scheiße(Deutsch)merda(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emrde
  • medre
  • merdde
  • mered
  • merrde
  • mmerde
  • mrede

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of merde - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

emrde2medre2merdde1mered2merrde1mmerde1mrede2
Edit distance from "merde"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "merde"?
"merde" is spelled M-E-R-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is \mɛʁd\.
What does "merde" mean?
As a noun, "merde" means: Excrément de personne ou d’animal.
What words are commonly confused with "merde"?
"merde" is commonly confused with "Mère", "mode", "more". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "merde"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "merde" is \mɛʁd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "merde" come from?
"merde" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "merde", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

parmi#482jouer#479peine#483allez#488

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

force7 variantsplein7 variantstrain7 variantsautour7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list