obey

\ə.ˈbeɪ\

/\ə.ˈbeɪ\/ verb

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

The verdict

“obey” is uncommon French (frequency #75,957 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,957
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Obéir (à).

Corpus desk

Index FR-obey · obey · French

obey · rank #75,957 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,957
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH néocolonialis…

Nearest frequency peer: néocolonialisme (-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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « obey »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « obey » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for obey
PropertyValue
Headwordobey
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ə.ˈbeɪ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#75,957
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « obey » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.obeytombe dans cette queue de rareté:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « néocolonialisme » (#75,956), « objectiver » (#75,958), « négociera » (#75,955). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « obey » est au #75,957. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

obey is uncommon French at frequency #75,957 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \ə.ˈbeɪ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Obéir (à).".

No generated misspelling entries exist for obey in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is obey, spelled O-B-E-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Obéir (à).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. You must obey the laws, otherwise you will be punished.

Antonyms

disobey

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 "obey"?
"obey" is spelled O-B-E-Y. The IPA pronunciation is \ə.ˈbeɪ\.
What does "obey" mean?
As a verb, "obey" means: Obéir (à).
How do you pronounce "obey"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "obey" is \ə.ˈbeɪ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "obey" come from?
"obey" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "obey", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

oliv#75,964opal#75,966NATU#75,937pati#75,987

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list