à coup sûr

\a ku syʁ\

/\a ku syʁ\/ adv

The verdict

“à coup sûr” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Immanquablement ; sûrement ; infailliblement ; avec certitude.

Key facts for à coup sûr
PropertyValue
Headwordà coup sûr
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\a ku syʁ\
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “à coup sûr” sits in French frequency

à coup sûr falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

à coup sûr is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a ku syʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Immanquablement ; sûrement ; infailliblement ; avec certitude.".

No misspelling variants are generated for à coup sûr in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is à coup sûr, spelled À- -C-O-U-P- -S-Û-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Immanquablement ; sûrement ; infailliblement ; avec certitude.

Synonyms

à tous les coupsaussi sûrement qu’émouchet sur poulettes

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 coup sûr"?
"à coup sûr" is spelled À- -C-O-U-P- -S-Û-R. The IPA pronunciation is \a ku syʁ\.
What does "à coup sûr" mean?
As an adverb, "à coup sûr" means: Immanquablement ; sûrement ; infailliblement ; avec certitude.
How do you pronounce "à coup sûr"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "à coup sûr" is \a ku syʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "à coup sûr" come from?
"à coup sûr" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “à coup sûr”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is À- -C-O-U-P- -S-Û-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \a ku syʁ\ (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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list