au-dessous
\o də.su\
The verdict
“au-dessous” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Plus bas, en bas.
Corpus desk
Index FR-au-dessous · au-dessous · French
au-dessous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-5 5 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | au-dessous |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \o də.su\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « au-dessous » en français
Rare enough to double-check
au-dessous is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o də.su\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for au-dessous in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is au-dessous, spelled A-U---D-E-S-S-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Plus bas, en bas.
- 2À une température inférieure à zéro degré centigrade.
- 3Position d'un comédien qui se trouve placé sur la scène devant un meuble ou un objet vis-à-vis du public.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how au-dessous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Partout, au-dessus, au-dessous, autour de lui, béaient des gouffres monstrueux où le vent hurlait, et où tourbillonnaient des rafales de neige.
— Ouvrir ! crie Marcel. Elle est folle !… C’est la mort ! Il y a quatre degrés au-dessous !
Synonyms
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.