qui bene amat, bene castigat

\ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\

/\ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\/ phrase

The verdict

“qui bene amat, bene castigat” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
28
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — Qui aime bien, châtie bien.

Key facts for qui bene amat, bene castigat
PropertyValue
Headwordqui bene amat, bene castigat
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPhrase
IPA\ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\
Letters28
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “qui bene amat, bene castigat” sits in French frequency

qui bene amat, bene castigat 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for qui bene amat, bene castigat is 28 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Qui aime bien, châtie bien.".

No misspelling variants are generated for qui bene amat, bene castigat in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is qui bene amat, bene castigat, spelled Q-U-I- -B-E-N-E- -A-M-A-T-,- -B-E-N-E- -C-A-S-T-I-G-A-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui aime bien, châtie bien.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “qui bene amat, bene castigat, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/qui-bene-amat-bene-castigat

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "qui bene amat, bene castigat"?
"qui bene amat, bene castigat" is spelled Q-U-I- -B-E-N-E- -A-M-A-T-,- -B-E-N-E- -C-A-S-T-I-G-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\.
What does "qui bene amat, bene castigat" mean?
As a phrase, "qui bene amat, bene castigat" means: Qui aime bien, châtie bien.
How do you pronounce "qui bene amat, bene castigat"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "qui bene amat, bene castigat" is \ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "qui bene amat, bene castigat" come from?
"qui bene amat, bene castigat" 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.

Using “qui bene amat, bene castigat”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is Q-U-I- -B-E-N-E- -A-M-A-T-,- -B-E-N-E- -C-A-S-T-I-G-A-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ˈkʷiː ˈbe.ne ˈa.mat ˈbe.ne kas.ˈtiː.ɡat\ (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

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter Q in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list