clair-obscur
\klɛ.ʁɔp.skyʁ\
The verdict
“clair-obscur” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Imitation de l’effet que produit la lumière en éclairant les surfaces qu’elle frappe et en laissant dans l’ombre celles qu’elle ne frappe pas.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clair-obscur |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \klɛ.ʁɔp.skyʁ\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clair-obscur” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
clair-obscur is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \klɛ.ʁɔp.skyʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for clair-obscur, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is clair-obscur, spelled C-L-A-I-R---O-B-S-C-U-R.
Definition
- 1Imitation de l’effet que produit la lumière en éclairant les surfaces qu’elle frappe et en laissant dans l’ombre celles qu’elle ne frappe pas.
- 2Les effets mêmes de la lumière sur les corps qu’elle frappe.
- 3Parties d’un dessin, d’une peinture où l’on voit à travers l’ombre les formes et les couleurs.
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 “clair-obscur”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-L-A-I-R---O-B-S-C-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \klɛ.ʁɔp.skyʁ\ (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.