à quatre pattes
\a katʁ pat\
The verdict
“à quatre pattes” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as an adverb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - À l’aide de leurs quatre pattes, en parlant de marcher chez des animaux quadrupèdes.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | à quatre pattes |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \a katʁ pat\ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “à quatre pattes” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for à quatre pattes is 15 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \a katʁ pat\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
à quatre pattes has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is à quatre pattes, spelled À- -Q-U-A-T-R-E- -P-A-T-T-E-S.
Definition
- 1À l’aide de leurs quatre pattes, en parlant de marcher chez des animaux quadrupèdes.
- 2Sur les genoux et les mains, au sol, en parlant de se déplacer chez des humains.
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
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Using “à quatre pattes”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is À- -Q-U-A-T-R-E- -P-A-T-T-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \a katʁ pat\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.