à cent pieds sous terre
\a sɑ̃ pje su tɛʁ\
The verdict
“à cent pieds sous terre” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 23
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Là où l'on voudrait pouvoir se cacher à tout le monde, tant on est confus, honteux.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | à cent pieds sous terre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a sɑ̃ pje su tɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 23 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “à cent pieds sous terre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for à cent pieds sous terre is 23 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \a sɑ̃ pje su tɛʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for à cent pieds sous terre, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is à cent pieds sous terre, spelled À- -C-E-N-T- -P-I-E-D-S- -S-O-U-S- -T-E-R-R-E.
Definition
- 1Là où l'on voudrait pouvoir se cacher à tout le monde, tant on est confus, honteux.
- 2Là où l'on voudrait s'isoler du monde à cause de quelque grand sujet de chagrin, ou que l'on est dégoûté de la vie.
- 3Mort et enterré.
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 “à cent pieds sous terre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is À- -C-E-N-T- -P-I-E-D-S- -S-O-U-S- -T-E-R-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \a sɑ̃ pje su tɛʁ\ (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.