veille
French, noun
veille is spelled V-E-I-L-L-E (6 letters) and appears 38 times per million words in written French, the 2,172nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Veille is a French feminine noun meaning “the day before, the eve” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, veillé is a different word: “past participle of veiller”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “État du corps de l’homme ou de l’animal, dans lequel les sens sont en action”.
What does veille mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininethe day before, the eve
la veille de Noël
- 2
femininethe era or while before something; eve
Jusqu’à la veille de la Première Guerre mondiale, la cause de l’immigration italienne en France était essentiellement économique.
- 3
femininewakefulness
- 4
femininewatch, vigil
- 5
femininestandby
verb
- 1
past participle of veiller
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. État du corps de l’homme ou de l’animal, dans lequel les sens sont en action. 2. Action de veiller volontairement dans le temps habituellement consacré au sommeil. 3. Veillée. 4. Sentinelle, garde qui se fait pendant la nuit.
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 veille
- veilles plural
- veillée feminine
- veillés masculine plural
- veillées feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to veille
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is veille in French?
veille appears 38 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).