être

//ɛtʁ// noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#48,731

in Portuguese word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

19

similar word pairs

être is aPortuguesenoun. It means: ser vivo Pronounced /ɛtʁ/. Often confused with Eve and ets.

Key facts for être
PropertyValue
Headwordêtre
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɛtʁ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#48,731
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of être in Portuguese word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Portuguese entry for être is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɛtʁ/. Corpus data places it at rank #48,731 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "ser vivo".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for être, with forms such as "têre", "êrte", and "êter". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "Eve", "ets", "extra", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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 Portuguese form is être, spelled Ê-T-R-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    ser vivo

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: têre,êrte,êter,êtrre,êttre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for être

Misspelling Variants of "être"

têre4êrte4êter4êtrre5êttre5
Misspelling Variants of "être"

Frequency rank: #48,731 in Portuguese

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "être"?
"être" is spelled Ê-T-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɛtʁ/.
What does "être" mean?
As a noun, "être" means: ser vivo
What words are commonly confused with "être"?
"être" is commonly confused with "Eve", "ets", "extra". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "être"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "être" is /ɛtʁ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "être" come from?
"être" is a Portuguese 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.

Nearby Portuguese words

Other entries that begin with the letter Ê in our Portuguese index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.