washing bear

/\ˌwɑʃ.ɪŋ ˈbɛɹ\/ noun

The verdict

“washing bear” 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
12
letters

Dominant Wiktionary sense: Raton laveur.

Key facts for washing bear
PropertyValue
Headwordwashing bear
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ˌwɑʃ.ɪŋ ˈbɛɹ\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “washing bear” sits in French frequency

washing bear 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 washing bear is 12 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ˌwɑʃ.ɪŋ ˈbɛɹ\. 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: "Raton laveur.".

No misspelling variants are generated for washing bear in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is washing bear, spelled W-A-S-H-I-N-G- -B-E-A-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Raton laveur.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “washing bear, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/washing-bear

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "washing bear"?
"washing bear" is spelled W-A-S-H-I-N-G- -B-E-A-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ˌwɑʃ.ɪŋ ˈbɛɹ\.
What does "washing bear" mean?
As a noun, "washing bear" means: Raton laveur.
How do you pronounce "washing bear"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "washing bear" is \ˌwɑʃ.ɪŋ ˈbɛɹ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "washing bear" come from?
"washing bear" 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 “washing bear”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is W-A-S-H-I-N-G- -B-E-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ˌwɑʃ.ɪŋ ˈbɛɹ\ (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

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

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