à première vue
\a pʁə.mjɛʁ vy\
The verdict
“à première vue” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Au premier aspect ; à la première inspection.
Corpus desk
Index FR-a-premiere-vue · à première vue · French
à première vue · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-7 7 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 première vue |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a pʁə.mjɛʁ vy\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « à première vue » en français
Rare enough to double-check
à première vue is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \a pʁə.mjɛʁ vy\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
à première vue doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is à première vue, spelled À- -P-R-E-M-I-È-R-E- -V-U-E.
Definition
- 1Au premier aspect ; à la première inspection.
- 2Sans l’avoir préalablement étudié, en parlant d’un morceau de musique que l’on joue.
- 3Au premier examen.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how à première vue appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
La nature est infaillible. L’œuvre de la nature, en ce genre s’appelle : aimer à première vue. En amour, la première vue est tout bonnement la seconde vue.
À première vue, on attribuerait au gothique flamboyant cette maîtresse œuvre où l'on découvre bientôt les volutes, les ornements, toutes les riches imaginations de la Renaissance.
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.