alter ego

\al.tɛ.ʁ‿e.ɡo\

/\al.tɛ.ʁ‿e.ɡo\/ noun

The verdict

“alter ego” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. 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) - Personne à qui on accorde une confiance absolue et qu’on charge d’agir en son nom.

Corpus desk

Index FR-alter-ego · alter ego · French

alter ego · 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 "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 alter ego
PropertyValue
Headwordalter ego
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\al.tɛ.ʁ‿e.ɡo\
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « alter ego » en français

alter egosiège 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

alter ego is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \al.tɛ.ʁ‿e.ɡo\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for alter ego, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is alter ego, spelled A-L-T-E-R- -E-G-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personne à qui on accorde une confiance absolue et qu’on charge d’agir en son nom.
  2. 2
    Second moi ; âme sœur.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dumay, devenu l’alter Ego de l’armateur, apprit en peu de temps la tenue des livres, cette science qui distingue, selon son mot, les sergents-majors du commerce.
  2. En ce moment, Montcornet devait résoudre une difficulté qui lui sembla plus pressante, il lui fallait un alter ego qui le remplaçât à la mairie pendant le temps de son séjour à Paris.

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 "alter ego"?
"alter ego" is spelled A-L-T-E-R- -E-G-O. The IPA pronunciation is \al.tɛ.ʁ‿e.ɡo\.
What does "alter ego" mean?
As a noun, "alter ego" means: Personne à qui on accorde une confiance absolue et qu’on charge d’agir en son nom.
How do you pronounce "alter ego"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "alter ego" is \al.tɛ.ʁ‿e.ɡo\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "alter ego" come from?
"alter ego" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list