à la lettre
\a la lɛtʁ\
The verdict
“à la lettre” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dans son sens littéral ; précisément comme il est écrit, sans interpréter.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-la-lettre · à la lettre · French
à la lettre · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 la lettre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a la lɛtʁ\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à la lettre » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à la lettre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a la lɛtʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dans son sens littéral ; précisément comme il est écrit, sans interpréter.".
à la lettre doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is à la lettre, spelled À- -L-A- -L-E-T-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1Dans son sens littéral ; précisément comme il est écrit, sans interpréter.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à la lettre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Il arriva qu’un hiver fut rude. Jean n’eut pas d’ouvrage. La famille n'eut pas de pain. Pas de pain. A la lettre. Sept enfants.
La prescription des directions est donc une invitation non déguisée au massacre de ces soldats, invitation qui a d’ailleurs été suivie à la lettre par la troupe.
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.