mère-grand

\mɛʁ.ɡʁɑ̃\

/\mɛʁ.ɡʁɑ̃\/ noun

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand-mère ou celle qui joue le rôle d'une grand-mère.

Corpus desk

Index FR-mere-grand · mère-grand · French

mère-grand · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 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 mère-grand
PropertyValue
Headwordmère-grand
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɛʁ.ɡʁɑ̃\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « mère-grand » en français

mère-grandsiège 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

mère-grand is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \mɛʁ.ɡʁɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Grand-mère ou celle qui joue le rôle d'une grand-mère.".

No misspelling variants are generated for mère-grand in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. 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 any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is mère-grand, spelled M-È-R-E---G-R-A-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grand-mère ou celle qui joue le rôle d'une grand-mère.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Et, comme elle s’était donnée tout entière à son mari et à sa fille, comme elle se donnait à son gendre, elle se donna aux trois enfants nés de l’union heureuse, elle devint Mère-Grand, ainsi qu’on la nommait, Mère-Grand pour toute la maison, pour les vieux comme pour les jeunes.
  2. On rit d’une mode différente de celles que nous voyons courir les rues ; les daguerréotypes de nos mères-grands en crinoline sont irrésistibles ; […]

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 "mère-grand"?
"mère-grand" is spelled M-È-R-E---G-R-A-N-D. The IPA pronunciation is \mɛʁ.ɡʁɑ̃\.
What does "mère-grand" mean?
As a noun, "mère-grand" means: Grand-mère ou celle qui joue le rôle d'une grand-mère.
How do you pronounce "mère-grand"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mère-grand" is \mɛʁ.ɡʁɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mère-grand" come from?
"mère-grand" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list