avoir l’œil
\a.vwaʁ lœj\
The verdict
“avoir l’œil” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Avoir un regard exercé ; savoir s’y prendre.
Corpus desk
Index FR-avoir-l-il · avoir l’œil · French
avoir l’œil · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 | avoir l’œil |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \a.vwaʁ lœj\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « avoir l’œil » en français
Rare enough to double-check
avoir l’œil is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \a.vwaʁ lœj\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for avoir l’œil, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is avoir l’œil, spelled A-V-O-I-R- -L-’-Œ-I-L.
Definition
- 1Avoir un regard exercé ; savoir s’y prendre.
- 2Surveiller.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how avoir l’œil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Les vieux qui les verraient traverser la ville se diraient certainement : « Le père Dubois est encore capable de faire de beaux fagots. Il a l’œil ».
Heureusement que le grand Staline, qui avait l’œil à tout et à qui on ne la faisait pas, veillait à ce qu’ils ne prennent pas trop d’ascendant.
Synonyms
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.