a. D.
\aːˈdeː\
The verdict
“a. D.” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Abréviation de außer Dienst / ausser Dienst (« hors service », « à la retraite »).
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-d · a. D. · French
a. D. · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" 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 | a. D. |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \aːˈdeː\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « a. D. » en français
Rare enough to double-check
a. D. is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \aːˈdeː\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Abréviation de außer Dienst / ausser Dienst (« hors service », « à la retraite »).".
a. D. doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is a. D., spelled A-.- -D-..
Definition
- 1Abréviation de außer Dienst / ausser Dienst (« hors service », « à la retraite »).
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how a. D. appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Oberlokomotivführer a. D. : mécanicien à la retraite.
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.