à bout portant
\a bu pɔʁ.tɑ̃\
The verdict
“à bout portant” 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 May 6, 2026) - En appuyant le bout d’arme à feu sur le corps de la victime, ou au moins de fort près.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | à bout portant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a bu pɔʁ.tɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “à bout portant” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
à bout portant is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a bu pɔʁ.tɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for à bout portant, 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 usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is à bout portant, spelled À- -B-O-U-T- -P-O-R-T-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1En appuyant le bout d’arme à feu sur le corps de la victime, ou au moins de fort près.
- 2En disant à quelqu’un, en face, quelque chose de direct, d’inattendu, généralement de désobligeant, en tout cas de gênant.
Synonyms
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
How do you spell "à bout portant"?
What does "à bout portant" mean?
How do you pronounce "à bout portant"?
What language does "à bout portant" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “à bout portant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is À- -B-O-U-T- -P-O-R-T-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \a bu pɔʁ.tɑ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.