prendre pied

\pʁɑ̃dʁ pje\

/\pʁɑ̃dʁ pje\/ verb

The verdict

“prendre pied” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Commencer à s'établir solidement, à gagner la confiance.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prendre-pied · prendre pied · French

prendre pied · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 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 prendre pied
PropertyValue
Headwordprendre pied
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pʁɑ̃dʁ pje\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « prendre pied » en français

prendre piedsiège 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

prendre pied is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁɑ̃dʁ pje\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for prendre pied, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

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 prendre pied, spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -P-I-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Commencer à s'établir solidement, à gagner la confiance.
  2. 2
    Investir un endroit.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Celui qui l'avait faite en était à ce moment psychologique où l'homme qui a su s'enrichir sans se déconsidérer essaie de prendre pied dans le monde aristocratique, […].
  2. Toutefois, pas un seul d'entre nous ne douta que nous arriverions à y prendre pied : ce n'était à nos yeux, qu'une question de patience ; […].

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 "prendre pied"?
"prendre pied" is spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -P-I-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɑ̃dʁ pje\.
What does "prendre pied" mean?
As a verb, "prendre pied" means: Commencer à s'établir solidement, à gagner la confiance.
How do you pronounce "prendre pied"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prendre pied" is \pʁɑ̃dʁ pje\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prendre pied" come from?
"prendre pied" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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