à l’occasion

\a l‿ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃\

/\a l‿ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃\/ adv

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Au moment favorable ; quand l’occasion se présente.

Corpus desk

Index FR-a-l-occasion · à l’occasion · French

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

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 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’occasion
PropertyValue
Headwordà l’occasion
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\a l‿ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

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

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

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for à l’occasion, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

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’occasion, spelled À- -L-’-O-C-C-A-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Au moment favorable ; quand l’occasion se présente.
  2. 2
    Le jour venu.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Hervé Ricou, le sacriste, […], après nous avoir fait visiter l'église, nous conduisit à une ferme voisine qui, à l’occasion, se transforme en auberge.
  2. Dès sa première communion, gagé par l’un ou par l’autre, gardeur de chèvre, ou de vaches, aide-berger, sarcleur de betteraves, bûcheron à l’occasion, il était sans l’avoir appris devenu habile […].

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’occasion"?
"à l’occasion" is spelled À- -L-’-O-C-C-A-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \a l‿ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃\.
What does "à l’occasion" mean?
As an adverb, "à l’occasion" means: Au moment favorable ; quand l’occasion se présente.
How do you pronounce "à l’occasion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "à l’occasion" is \a l‿ɔ.ka.zjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "à l’occasion" come from?
"à l’occasion" 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