avaler une couleuvre
\a.va.le yn ku.lœvʁ\
The verdict
“avaler une couleuvre” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Devoir faire ou accepter quelque chose que l’on ne veut pas.
Corpus desk
Index FR-avaler-une-couleuvre · avaler une couleuvre · French
avaler une couleuvre · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-10 10 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | avaler une couleuvre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \a.va.le yn ku.lœvʁ\ |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « avaler une couleuvre » en français
Rare enough to double-check
avaler une couleuvre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \a.va.le yn ku.lœvʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for avaler une couleuvre, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is avaler une couleuvre, spelled A-V-A-L-E-R- -U-N-E- -C-O-U-L-E-U-V-R-E.
Definition
- 1Devoir faire ou accepter quelque chose que l’on ne veut pas.
- 2Subir une humiliation.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how avaler une couleuvre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
– Avaler ainsi une couleuvre aussi longue que l’Arno, cela s’appelle avoir l’estomac bon.
S’il ne le faisait pas, sur cette nouvelle affaire, ce ne serait pas une couleuvre, qu’il avalerait, mais un anaconda.
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.