chef d'œuvre
/ˌʃeɪˈdɜː.v(ɹə)/
"chef-d-uvre" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“chef d'œuvre” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A piece of work that has been given much critical praise, especially one considered the greatest work of a person's career.
Corpus desk
Index EN-chef-d-uvre · chef d'œuvre · English
chef d'œuvre · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" 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 | chef d'œuvre |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌʃeɪˈdɜː.v(ɹə)/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “chef d'œuvre” in English
Rare enough to double-check
chef d'œuvre is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌʃeɪˈdɜː.v(ɹə)/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for chef d'œuvre in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French chef-d'œuvre. The correct English form is chef d'œuvre, spelled C-H-E-F- -D-'-Œ-U-V-R-E.
Definition
- 1A piece of work that has been given much critical praise, especially one considered the greatest work of a person's career.
- 2A work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship.
- 3A work created in order to qualify as a master craftsman and member of a guild.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how chef d'œuvre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
It was there that the Romans exposed their chefs-d’œuvre of painting and of sculpture.
I shall have a bottle of the old Burgundy, and tell Chloe he must exert himself to send me up some slight chef-d'œuvre for supper: I am sure that one needs something, after so much annoyance!
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French chef-d'œuvre.
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.