au pire
\o piʁ\
The verdict
“au pire” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Dans le cas le moins favorable.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | au pire |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \o piʁ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “au pire” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
au pire is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o piʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dans le cas le moins favorable.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for au pire, 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.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is au pire, spelled A-U- -P-I-R-E.
Definition
- 1Dans le cas le moins favorable.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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
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Using “au pire”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-U- -P-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \o piʁ\ (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.