près
French, preposition
près is spelled P-R-È-S (4 letters) and appears 282 times per million words in written French, the 294th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Près is a French preposition meaning “attached to, connects a person or an organisation delegated officially to a setting” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, prés is a different word: “the color of meadow green”.
What does près mean in English?
adverb
- 1
near (a time or a place); close (to a time or a place)
J'habite tout près.
preposition
- 1
attached to, connects a person or an organisation delegated officially to a setting.
un expert près les tribunaux
adjective
- 1
the color of meadow green
noun
- 1
masculineplural of pré
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adverb: 1. À petite distance, à proximité. 2. À peu de temps, avant ou après. 3. À peu de chose près. 4. En délégation auprès de.
noun: 1. Allure permettant le gain au vent.
adjective: 1. De la couleur vert des prairies.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
English words that translate to près
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is près in French?
près appears 282 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).