adieu

[aˈdjøː]

/[aˈdjøː]/ intj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“adieu” has 5 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #25,875. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#25,875
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Abschiedsgruß

Corpus desk

Index DE-adieu · adieu · German

adieu · rank #25,875 · 5 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #25,875
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH ade

Nearest frequency peer: ade (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „adieu“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „adieu“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

adieu vs Arie
40% similar
adieu vs Asien
40% similar
adieu vs Adler
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for adieu
PropertyValue
Headwordadieu
LanguageGerman
Part of speechInterjection
IPA[aˈdjøː]
Letters5
Frequency rank#25,875
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „adieu“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).adieuliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „ade“ (#25,874), „administrative“ (#25,876), „abzuziehen“ (#25,873). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „adieu“ bei #25,875. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around adieu (IPA [aˈdjøː]), aninterjection. Corpus frequency is #25,875 among 6,976 “A” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Abschiedsgruß".

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for adieu, with forms such as "addieu", "adeiu", and "adiue". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "Arie", "Asien", "Adler", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is adieu, spelled A-D-I-E-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Abschiedsgruß

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Nun heißt es denn adieu sagen.

Synonyms

auf Wiederschauenadeciaotschautschauitschötschoi

This word in other languages

adieu(English)adieu(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • addieu
  • adeiu
  • adiue
  • aideu
  • daieu

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of adieu - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

addieu1adeiu2adiue2aideu2daieu2
Edit distance from "adieu"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "adieu"?
"adieu" is spelled A-D-I-E-U. The IPA pronunciation is [aˈdjøː].
What does "adieu" mean?
As an interjection, "adieu" means: Abschiedsgruß
What words are commonly confused with "adieu"?
"adieu" is commonly confused with "Arie", "Asien", "Adler". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "adieu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "adieu" is [aˈdjøː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "adieu" come from?
"adieu" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "adieu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Ahmad#25,879Abruf#25,869Abdel#25,866übten#25,863

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

arms5 variantsTofu5 variantsGamma5 variantsOmen5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list