tête brûlée

\tɛt bʁy.le\

/\tɛt bʁy.le\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“tête brûlée” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Personne qui prend des risques volontairement et inconsidérément, personne portée à l’excès.

Key facts for tête brûlée
PropertyValue
Headwordtête brûlée
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɛt bʁy.le\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tête brûlée” sits in French frequency

tête brûlée 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 tête brûlée is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɛt bʁy.le\. 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: "Personne qui prend des risques volontairement et inconsidérément, personne portée à l’excès.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tête brûlée, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tête brûlée, spelled T-Ê-T-E- -B-R-Û-L-É-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personne qui prend des risques volontairement et inconsidérément, personne portée à l’excès.

Synonyms

casse-coufanatiquetrompe-la-mort

This word in other languages

black sheep(English)

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 "tête brûlée"?
"tête brûlée" is spelled T-Ê-T-E- -B-R-Û-L-É-E. The IPA pronunciation is \tɛt bʁy.le\.
What does "tête brûlée" mean?
As a noun, "tête brûlée" means: Personne qui prend des risques volontairement et inconsidérément, personne portée à l’excès.
How do you pronounce "tête brûlée"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tête brûlée" is \tɛt bʁy.le\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tête brûlée" come from?
"tête brûlée" 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 “tête brûlée”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is T-Ê-T-E- -B-R-Û-L-É-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \tɛt bʁy.le\ (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
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