palabre
French, noun
palabre is spelled P-A-L-A-B-R-E (7 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written French, the 76,422nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Palabre is a French masculine noun meaning “convoluted discussion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of palabrer. With an accent, palabré is a different word: “past participle of palabrer”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Discussion entre deux individus ou groupe d’individus au sujet d’une transaction commerciale, notamment entre…”.
What does palabre mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculineconvoluted discussion
- 2
masculinepalaver
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- 2
second-person singular imperative
verb
- 1
past participle of palabrer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Discussion entre deux individus ou groupe d’individus au sujet d’une transaction commerciale, notamment entre les commerçants espagnols et les différents peuples d’Afrique. 2. Discussion longue et vaine. 3. (par extension) Bagarre.
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 palabre
- palabres plural
- palabrée feminine
- palabrés masculine plural
- palabrées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to palabre
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is palabre in French?
palabre appears about once in every 5 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).