raison d'être
/ˌɹeɪzɒ̃ ˈdɛtɹə/
"raison-d-etre" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“raison d'être” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A reason for being; the claimed reason for the existence of something or someone; the sole or ultimate purpose of something or someone.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | raison d'être |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɹeɪzɒ̃ ˈdɛtɹə/ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “raison d'être” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
raison d'être is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɹeɪzɒ̃ ˈdɛtɹə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A reason for being; the claimed reason for the existence of something or someone; the sole or ultimate purpose of something or someone.".
raison d'être has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French raison d'être (literally “a reason to be”). The correct English form is raison d'être, spelled R-A-I-S-O-N- -D-'-Ê-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1A reason for being; the claimed reason for the existence of something or someone; the sole or ultimate purpose of something or someone.
Etymology
Borrowed from French raison d'être (literally “a reason to be”).
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “raison d'être”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-A-I-S-O-N- -D-'-Ê-T-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɹeɪzɒ̃ ˈdɛtɹə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.