ci-devant
\si.də.vɑ̃\
The verdict
“ci-devant” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Précédemment ; ci-dessus.
Corpus desk
Index FR-ci-devant · ci-devant · French
ci-devant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" 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 | ci-devant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \si.də.vɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « ci-devant » en français
Rare enough to double-check
ci-devant is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \si.də.vɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for ci-devant in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is ci-devant, spelled C-I---D-E-V-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Précédemment ; ci-dessus.
- 2Autrefois.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ci-devant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Comme nous avons dit ci-devant.
Les Tribunaux de ce département sont placés à Libre-Ville, ci-devant Charleville, Sedan, Réthel, Roc-Libre, ci-devant Rocroy, Attigny & Buzancy.
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.