au pied levé
\o pje lə.ve\
The verdict
“au pied levé” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - À l’improviste, sans préparation.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | au pied levé |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \o pje lə.ve\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “au pied levé” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
au pied levé is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o pje lə.ve\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "À l’improviste, sans préparation.".
Zero misspellings are on record for au pied levé in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is au pied levé, spelled A-U- -P-I-E-D- -L-E-V-É.
Definition
- 1À l’improviste, sans préparation.
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 "au pied levé"?
What does "au pied levé" mean?
How do you pronounce "au pied levé"?
What language does "au pied levé" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “au pied levé”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-U- -P-I-E-D- -L-E-V-É - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \o pje lə.ve\ (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.