avoir la tête en l’air

\a.vwaʁ la tɛ.t‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\

/\a.vwaʁ la tɛ.t‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\/ verb

The verdict

“avoir la tête en l’air” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
22
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ne pas être attentif.

Corpus desk

Index FR-avoir-la-tete-en-l-air · avoir la tête en l’air · French

avoir la tête en l’air · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 22 letters
  • VOW-9 9 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 avoir la tête en l’air
PropertyValue
Headwordavoir la tête en l’air
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\a.vwaʁ la tɛ.t‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\
Letters22
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « avoir la tête en l’air » en français

avoir la tête en l’airn'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

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

Rare enough to double-check

avoir la tête en l’air is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \a.vwaʁ la tɛ.t‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ne pas être attentif.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for avoir la tête en l’air, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is avoir la tête en l’air, spelled A-V-O-I-R- -L-A- -T-Ê-T-E- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ne pas être attentif.

Synonyms

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 "avoir la tête en l’air"?
"avoir la tête en l’air" is spelled A-V-O-I-R- -L-A- -T-Ê-T-E- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \a.vwaʁ la tɛ.t‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\.
What does "avoir la tête en l’air" mean?
As a verb, "avoir la tête en l’air" means: Ne pas être attentif.
How do you pronounce "avoir la tête en l’air"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "avoir la tête en l’air" is \a.vwaʁ la tɛ.t‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "avoir la tête en l’air" come from?
"avoir la tête en l’air" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list