she-bear
\ˈʃi.bɛɹ\
The verdict
“she-bear” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ourse.
Corpus desk
Index FR-she-bear · she-bear · French
she-bear · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" 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 | she-bear |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ˈʃi.bɛɹ\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « she-bear » en français
Rare enough to double-check
she-bear is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ˈʃi.bɛɹ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ourse.".
No misspelling variants are generated for she-bear in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is she-bear, spelled S-H-E---B-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1Ourse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how she-bear appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
All three texts play with imagery drawn directly from the lived observation that a she-bear is very dangerous if one interferes with her cubs.
Some years later Arcas, now a youth, was hunting in the forest when he came upon a great she-bear. He was just about to launch his javelin at her when Zeus intervened to prevent an inadvertent matricide and raised them up into the heavens as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the constellations of the Great Bear and the Little Bear.
Synonyms
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.