à contre-cours
The verdict
“à contre-cours” 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) - Dans le sens opposé au cours ; à contre-courant.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-contre-cours · à contre-cours · French
à contre-cours · 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 contre-cours |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à contre-cours » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à contre-cours is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dans le sens opposé au cours ; à contre-courant.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for à contre-cours, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology 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 contre-cours, spelled À- -C-O-N-T-R-E---C-O-U-R-S.
Definition
- 1Dans le sens opposé au cours ; à contre-courant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à contre-cours appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
On suivit à contre-cours les bords du Tanaro.
Une latte à la main, ils frappaient le ruisseau à contre-cours, et ils y pêchaient les menues ferrailles qu'ils pouvaient trouver.
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.