à l’envi
\a l‿ɑ̃.vi\
The verdict
“à l’envi” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Autant que possible en s’encourageant mutuellement et en tentant de surpasser les autres.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-l-envi · à l’envi · French
à l’envi · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 l’envi |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a l‿ɑ̃.vi\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à l’envi » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à l’envi is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a l‿ɑ̃.vi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
à l’envi doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is à l’envi, spelled À- -L-’-E-N-V-I.
Definition
- 1Autant que possible en s’encourageant mutuellement et en tentant de surpasser les autres.
- 2En émulation, en rivalité avec.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à l’envi appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Durant tout ce temps, et malgré la distance, les Parisiens vinrent à l’envi saluer le nouveau roi de leurs acclamations et de leurs vœux.
Français et Anglais, si longtemps divisés sur les champs de bataille, se réunirent contre les quadrupèdes usurpateurs. Les fusils, les chiens, les lacets, furent employés à l’envi.
Antonyms
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.