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 September 3, 2026) - Viennoiserie (non feuilletée) en forme de petit pain, au lait et sucré.

Corpus desk

Index FR-petit-pain · petit pain · French

petit pain · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

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

Longue queue: rang de « petit pain » en français

petit painsiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Je vais chez le boulanger prendre un petit pain d’un sou où je mords comme un chien.
  2. Je sais aujourd’hui que c’étaient des albums d’images d’Épinal coloriées au pochoir, ils dataient au moins de Napoléon III, on les regardait en mangeant notre quatre-heures qu’on avait apporté dans notre petit panier à rabattants, moi c’était toujours un petit pain au lait avec une barre de chocolat à la crème, toujours.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list