chef-d’œuvre
\ʃɛ.d‿œvʁ\
The verdict
“chef-d’œuvre” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ouvrage parfait ou très beau, modèle en son genre.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | chef-d’œuvre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ʃɛ.d‿œvʁ\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “chef-d’œuvre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for chef-d’œuvre is 12 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʃɛ.d‿œvʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
chef-d’œuvre doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, 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, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is chef-d’œuvre, spelled C-H-E-F---D-’-Œ-U-V-R-E.
Definition
- 1Ouvrage parfait ou très beau, modèle en son genre.
- 2Summum.
- 3Erreur.
- 4Ouvrage difficile que faisaient les ouvriers, les compagnons dans le métier où ils voulaient obtenir la maîtrise.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “chef-d’œuvre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-H-E-F---D-’-Œ-U-V-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʃɛ.d‿œvʁ\ (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.