à l’œil

\a.lœj\

/\a.lœj\/ adv

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gratuitement, sans payer ou être payé.

Corpus desk

Index FR-a-l-il · à l’œil · French

à l’œil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 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.

Key facts for à l’œil
PropertyValue
Headwordà l’œil
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\a.lœj\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « à l’œil » en français

à l’œilsiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

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

Rare enough to double-check

à l’œil is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a.lœj\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for à l’œil, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 l’œil, spelled À- -L-’-Œ-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Gratuitement, sans payer ou être payé.
  2. 2
    Avec l’œil, à la vue.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il en a marre de turbiner à l’œil, hein ?
  2. Mais tu sais bien que, depuis deux jours, j’ai tout acheté à l’œil.

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 l’œil"?
"à l’œil" is spelled À- -L-’-Œ-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is \a.lœj\.
What does "à l’œil" mean?
As an adverb, "à l’œil" means: Gratuitement, sans payer ou être payé.
How do you pronounce "à l’œil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "à l’œil" is \a.lœj\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "à l’œil" come from?
"à l’œil" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list