abstrus

\ap.stʁy\

/\ap.stʁy\/ adj

The verdict

“abstrus” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui est difficile à comprendre, à saisir par l’esprit.

Corpus desk

Index FR-abstrus · abstrus · French

abstrus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "A" 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 abstrus
PropertyValue
Headwordabstrus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ap.stʁy\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “abstrus” se place dans la fréquence du français

abstrussiège 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

abstrus is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ap.stʁy\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for abstrus in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is abstrus, spelled A-B-S-T-R-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est difficile à comprendre, à saisir par l’esprit.
  2. 2
    S’applique quelquefois aux personnes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ou bien, d’une voix astucieuse et basse, il expliquait à des auditeurs imaginaires des questions abstruses de politique. Les autres malades l’écoutaient en silence […].
  2. Et le plus dangereux de cette expérience abstruse n’était pas encore cette division de ma pensée à l’intérieur de moi-même, mais le fait que tout se passait en imagination…

Synonyms

Antonyms

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

How do you spell "abstrus"?
"abstrus" is spelled A-B-S-T-R-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ap.stʁy\.
What does "abstrus" mean?
As an adjective, "abstrus" means: Qui est difficile à comprendre, à saisir par l’esprit.
How do you pronounce "abstrus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "abstrus" is \ap.stʁy\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "abstrus" come from?
"abstrus" 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.

What to do next

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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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list