au sens propre

\o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\

/\o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\/ adv

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

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Au sens littéral, au sens premier et non pas au sens figuré.

Key facts for au sens propre
PropertyValue
Headwordau sens propre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “au sens propre” sits in French frequency

au sens propre 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 sens propre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Au sens littéral, au sens premier et non pas au sens figuré.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for au sens propre, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is au sens propre, spelled A-U- -S-E-N-S- -P-R-O-P-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Au sens littéral, au sens premier et non pas au sens figuré.

Antonyms

au sens figuréau figuré

This word in other languages

literally(English)

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 sens propre"?
"au sens propre" is spelled A-U- -S-E-N-S- -P-R-O-P-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\.
What does "au sens propre" mean?
As an adverb, "au sens propre" means: Au sens littéral, au sens premier et non pas au sens figuré.
How do you pronounce "au sens propre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "au sens propre" is \o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "au sens propre" come from?
"au sens propre" 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 sens propre”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is A-U- -S-E-N-S- -P-R-O-P-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \o sɑ̃s pʁɔpʁ\ (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