au petit bonheur

\o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\

/\o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\/ adv

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

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - En faisant confiance au hasard, au sort, sans préparation ni réflexion préalable.

Key facts for au petit bonheur
PropertyValue
Headwordau petit bonheur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “au petit bonheur” sits in French frequency

au petit bonheur 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 petit bonheur is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "En faisant confiance au hasard, au sort, sans préparation ni réflexion préalable.".

Zero misspellings are on record for au petit bonheur in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is au petit bonheur, spelled A-U- -P-E-T-I-T- -B-O-N-H-E-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    En faisant confiance au hasard, au sort, sans préparation ni réflexion préalable.

Synonyms

à l’aventureau hasard

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 petit bonheur"?
"au petit bonheur" is spelled A-U- -P-E-T-I-T- -B-O-N-H-E-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\.
What does "au petit bonheur" mean?
As an adverb, "au petit bonheur" means: En faisant confiance au hasard, au sort, sans préparation ni réflexion préalable.
How do you pronounce "au petit bonheur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "au petit bonheur" is \o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "au petit bonheur" come from?
"au petit bonheur" 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 petit bonheur”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is A-U- -P-E-T-I-T- -B-O-N-H-E-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \o p(ə).ti bɔ.nœʁ\ (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