tête de buis

\tɛt də bɥi\

/\tɛt də bɥi\/ noun

The verdict

“tête de buis” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. 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) - Personne entêtée, qui a la tête dure.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tete-de-buis · tête de buis · French

tête de buis · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "T" 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 tête de buis
PropertyValue
Headwordtête de buis
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɛt də bɥi\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « tête de buis » en français

tête de buissiège 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

tête de buis is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \tɛt də bɥi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Personne entêtée, qui a la tête dure.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tête de buis, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tête de buis, spelled T-Ê-T-E- -D-E- -B-U-I-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personne entêtée, qui a la tête dure.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Sylvain le harcelait inlassablement de « pourquoi ». La patience à bout, le pauvre grand-père, levant les bras, lui disait : « Oh ! tête de buis, ça suffit, va jouer. »

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tête de buis"?
"tête de buis" is spelled T-Ê-T-E- -D-E- -B-U-I-S. The IPA pronunciation is \tɛt də bɥi\.
What does "tête de buis" mean?
As a noun, "tête de buis" means: Personne entêtée, qui a la tête dure.
How do you pronounce "tête de buis"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tête de buis" is \tɛt də bɥi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tête de buis" come from?
"tête de buis" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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