au vent

\o vɑ̃\

/\o vɑ̃\/ adj

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Situé du côté du navire d'où vient le vent.

Corpus desk

Index FR-au-vent · au vent · French

au vent · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "A" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for au vent
PropertyValue
Headwordau vent
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\o vɑ̃\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « au vent » en français

au ventreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

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

Rare enough to double-check

au vent is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \o vɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for au vent, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is au vent, spelled A-U- -V-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Situé du côté du navire d'où vient le vent.
  2. 2
    Côte située du côté d'où vient le vent.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how au vent appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Quand un objet se trouve plus près de l’origine du vent que la perpendiculaire à la direction de l’aire de vent qui passe par un autre objet, le premier de ces objets est au vent de l’autre ; s’il est plus loin de l’origine du vent par rapport à cette perpendiculaire, il est sous le vent de l’autre objet.
  2. Côte-au-vent ou à l'inverse côte-sous-le-vent.

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

How do you spell "au vent"?
"au vent" is spelled A-U- -V-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \o vɑ̃\.
What does "au vent" mean?
As an adjective, "au vent" means: Situé du côté du navire d'où vient le vent.
How do you pronounce "au vent"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "au vent" is \o vɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "au vent" come from?
"au vent" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list