Pays-Bas
\pe.i.ba\
The verdict
“Pays-Bas” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a proper noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pays européen, entouré par la mer du Nord, la Belgique et l’Allemagne et dont la capitale est Amsterdam.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Pays-Bas |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | \pe.i.ba\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Pays-Bas” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for Pays-Bas is 8 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pe.i.ba\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Pays-Bas doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is Pays-Bas, spelled P-A-Y-S---B-A-S.
Definition
- 1Pays européen, entouré par la mer du Nord, la Belgique et l’Allemagne et dont la capitale est Amsterdam.
- 2Les dix-sept Provinces des Pays-Bas, sous les ducs de Bourgogne et Charles Quint (du XIVᵉ siècle au XVIᵉ siècle) jusqu’à l’époque de leur séparation en Pays-Bas espagnols et Provinces-Unies (1581).
- 3Les Pays-Bas espagnols, ensuite Pays-Bas autrichiens (1581-1795), correspondant environ à la Belgique actuelle, en dehors de la Principauté de Liège.
- 4La république des sept Provinces-Unies (1581-1795).
- 5Le royaume des Pays-Bas (unis), qui comprenait la Belgique et les Pays-Bas actuels de 1815 à 1830.
This word in other languages
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
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Using “Pays-Bas”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-A-Y-S---B-A-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pe.i.ba\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.