au figuré
\o fi.ɡy.ʁe\
The verdict
“au figuré” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. 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) - Au sens figuré, par métaphore, et non pas au sens littéral.
Corpus desk
Index FR-au-figure · au figuré · French
au figuré · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 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 figuré |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \o fi.ɡy.ʁe\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « au figuré » en français
Rare enough to double-check
au figuré is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o fi.ɡy.ʁe\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Au sens figuré, par métaphore, et non pas au sens littéral.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for au figuré in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is au figuré, spelled A-U- -F-I-G-U-R-É.
Definition
- 1Au sens figuré, par métaphore, et non pas au sens littéral.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how au figuré appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Quand je dis que je suis tombé sur un bec, il faut le prendre au figuré, je ne suis bien sûr pas vraiment tombé, encore moins sur un vrai bec !
Antonyms
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.