petit pain

\pə.ti pɛ̃\

/\pə.ti pɛ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“petit pain” 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 May 6, 2026) - Viennoiserie (non feuilletée) en forme de petit pain, au lait et sucré.

Key facts for petit pain
PropertyValue
Headwordpetit pain
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pə.ti pɛ̃\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “petit pain” sits in French frequency

petit pain falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

petit pain is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pə.ti pɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for petit pain in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, 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 petit pain, spelled P-E-T-I-T- -P-A-I-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Viennoiserie (non feuilletée) en forme de petit pain, au lait et sucré.
  2. 2
    Pain au chocolat.

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

How do you spell "petit pain"?
"petit pain" is spelled P-E-T-I-T- -P-A-I-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pə.ti pɛ̃\.
What does "petit pain" mean?
As a noun, "petit pain" means: Viennoiserie (non feuilletée) en forme de petit pain, au lait et sucré.
How do you pronounce "petit pain"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "petit pain" is \pə.ti pɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "petit pain" come from?
"petit pain" 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.

Using “petit pain”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is P-E-T-I-T- -P-A-I-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pə.ti pɛ̃\ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list