papillon
French, noun/pa.pi.jɔ̃/
papillon is spelled P-A-P-I-L-L-O-N (8 letters) and appears 7.8 times per million words in written French, the 8,090th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Papillon is a French masculine noun meaning “butterfly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère”.
What does papillon mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinebutterfly
vif et léger comme un papillon
- 2
masculinesomeone brilliant, versatile and inconstant
- 3
masculineknot
- 4
masculineellipsis of écrou papillon (“wing nut, butterfly nut”)
- 5
masculinebutterfly stroke
le record du monde en nage papillon
- 6
colloquialmasculineparking ticket
Les automobilistes parisiens ont fortement tendance à classer dans un tiroir les papillons qu'ils trouvent sur leur pare-brise.
- 7
masculinebutterfly valve
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Insecte qui a quatre ailes couvertes de fines écailles colorées, c’est le stade imaginal du lépidoptère. 2. Personne qui, se laissant tromper par des apparences brillantes, est près de tomber dans un piège. 3. Esprit léger qui voltige d’objets en objets. 4. Bagatelle, considération futile.
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 papillon
- papillons plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce papillon?
- /pa.pi.jɔ̃/
- \pa.pi.jɔ̃\
- [ɛ̃ pa.pi.jɔ̃]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to papillon
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is papillon in French?
papillon appears 7.8 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).