vain
French, adjective/vɛ̃/
vain is spelled V-A-I-N (4 letters) and appears 11 times per million words in written French, the 6,385th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vain is a French adjective meaning “useless, ineffective, fruitless” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui est inutile, qui ne produit rien”.
What does vain mean in English?
adjective
- 1
useless, ineffective, fruitless
- 2
vain, shallow
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui est inutile, qui ne produit rien. 2. Qui est frivole, chimérique, qui n’a aucun fondement solide et raisonnable. 3. Qui est orgueilleux, plein de vanité.
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.
Forms of vain
- vaine feminine
- vains masculine plural
- vaines feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce vain?
- /vɛ̃/
- \vɛ̃\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to vain
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is vain in French?
vain appears 11 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).