à fleur de peau

\a flœʁ də po\

/\a flœʁ də po\/ adv

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sans dépasser la surface de la peau.

Corpus desk

Index FR-a-fleur-de-peau · à fleur de peau · French

à fleur de peau · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 15 letters
  • VOW-7 7 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.

Key facts for à fleur de peau
PropertyValue
Headwordà fleur de peau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\a flœʁ də po\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « à fleur de peau » en français

à fleur de peaun'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

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

Rare enough to double-check

à fleur de peau is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a flœʁ də po\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Sans dépasser la surface de la peau.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for à fleur de peau, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is à fleur de peau, spelled À- -F-L-E-U-R- -D-E- -P-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sans dépasser la surface de la peau.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how à fleur de peau appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Son âme montait, pour ainsi dire, à fleur de peau et s’épanouissait sur sa figure.

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 fleur de peau"?
"à fleur de peau" is spelled À- -F-L-E-U-R- -D-E- -P-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \a flœʁ də po\.
What does "à fleur de peau" mean?
As an adverb, "à fleur de peau" means: Sans dépasser la surface de la peau.
How do you pronounce "à fleur de peau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "à fleur de peau" is \a flœʁ də po\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "à fleur de peau" come from?
"à fleur de peau" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list