avant-garde
/æˈvɑ̃t.ɡɑːd/
"avant-garde" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“avant-garde” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The vanguard of an army or other force.
Corpus desk
Index EN-avant-garde · avant-garde · English
avant-garde · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | avant-garde |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /æˈvɑ̃t.ɡɑːd/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “avant-garde” in English
Rare enough to double-check
avant-garde is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /æˈvɑ̃t.ɡɑːd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
avant-garde has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French avant-garde (“vanguard”). Doublet of vanguard and vaward. The correct English form is avant-garde, spelled A-V-A-N-T---G-A-R-D-E.
Definition
- 1The vanguard of an army or other force.
- 2Any group of people who invent or promote new techniques or concepts, especially in the arts.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French avant-garde (“vanguard”). Doublet of vanguard and vaward.
This word in other languages
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.