à bout de bras
\a bu də bʁa\
The verdict
“à bout de bras” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - En portant, difficilement, à l’extrémité de la main, les bras tendus.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-bout-de-bras · à bout de bras · French
à bout de bras · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "À" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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 | à bout de bras |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a bu də bʁa\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à bout de bras » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à bout de bras is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a bu də bʁa\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
à bout de bras has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is à bout de bras, spelled À- -B-O-U-T- -D-E- -B-R-A-S.
Definition
- 1En portant, difficilement, à l’extrémité de la main, les bras tendus.
- 2En faisant tout son possible pour maintenir en l’état ou pour consolider une situation.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à bout de bras appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Alain tenait la lanterne ; il l'éleva à bout de bras pour guider Scaër qui suivit ce fanal, et tantôt louvoyant, tantôt escaladant, […], ils arrivèrent non sans peine à la muraille indiquée par le Cornouaillais.
Le berger hausse l'enfant à bout de bras au-dessus de sa tête
Synonyms
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.