peut-être
\pø.t‿ɛtʁ\
The verdict
“peut-être” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Cela se peut, possiblement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-peut-etre · peut-être · French
peut-être · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | peut-être |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \pø.t‿ɛtʁ\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « peut-être » en français
Rare enough to double-check
peut-être is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \pø.t‿ɛtʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for peut-être in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is peut-être, spelled P-E-U-T---Ê-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1Cela se peut, possiblement.
- 2J’admets que …, mais ce n’est pas important ici.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how peut-être appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] ; il me semble n’y avoir vu encore que des visages effarouchés ou rébarbatifs. Peut-être aussi les Parisiens ont-ils peur de l’orage.
Étonnez-vous donc, après tout ça, que les Évêques aient chanté le Te Deum pour Napoléon III ; l’homme couvert de sang ne leur déplait pas ; c’est peut-être même à cela qu’ils reconnaissent le favori de Dieu.
Synonyms
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.