à la main
\a la mɛ̃\
The verdict
“à la main” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Avec la main.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-la-main · à la main · French
à la main · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 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 main |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a la mɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à la main » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à la main is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a la mɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for à la main, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is à la main, spelled À- -L-A- -M-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1Avec la main.
- 2Manuellement, artisanalement, par opposition aux objets faits à la machine.
- 3Avec des outils informatiques rudimentaires (c’est-à-dire généralement une invite de commandes), sans réaliser un programme spécifique pour faciliter la tâche.
- 4Dans la main.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à la main appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] n’avait-il point remarqué une superbe truite qui se calait sous un rocher de la rive. […] La question se posait seulement de savoir s’il la prendrait au filet ou à la main.
Avant de servir au tannage des cuirs, l’écorce de chêne est hachée mécaniquement ou à la main, puis réduite entre des meules en une poudre grossière qui prend le nom de tan.
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.