au fil de l’eau

\o fil də l‿o\

/\o fil də l‿o\/ adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“au fil de l’eau” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Au gré du courant naturel d’un cours d’eau, dans sa direction.

Key facts for au fil de l’eau
PropertyValue
Headwordau fil de l’eau
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\o fil də l‿o\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “au fil de l’eau” sits in French frequency

au fil de l’eau falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

au fil de l’eau is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o fil də l‿o\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for au fil de l’eau, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is au fil de l’eau, spelled A-U- -F-I-L- -D-E- -L-’-E-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Au gré du courant naturel d’un cours d’eau, dans sa direction.
  2. 2
    Progressivement, au fur et à mesure.
  3. 3
    Se dit d’une installation hydro-électrique aménagée directement le long d’un cours d’eau, sans barrage.

Synonyms

au gré du courantau fur et à mesureprogressivement

This word in other languages

downstream(English)poco a poco(Español)nach und nach(Deutsch)

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 "au fil de l’eau"?
"au fil de l’eau" is spelled A-U- -F-I-L- -D-E- -L-’-E-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is \o fil də l‿o\.
What does "au fil de l’eau" mean?
As an adverb, "au fil de l’eau" means: Au gré du courant naturel d’un cours d’eau, dans sa direction.
How do you pronounce "au fil de l’eau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "au fil de l’eau" is \o fil də l‿o\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "au fil de l’eau" come from?
"au fil de l’eau" 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.

Using “au fil de l’eau”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is A-U- -F-I-L- -D-E- -L-’-E-A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \o fil də l‿o\ (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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list