contre-jour
\kɔ̃.tʁə.ʒuʁ\
The verdict
“contre-jour” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Éclairage d’un objet qui reçoit la lumière du côté opposé à celui où se trouve l’observateur.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contre-jour |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kɔ̃.tʁə.ʒuʁ\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contre-jour” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
contre-jour is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \kɔ̃.tʁə.ʒuʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for contre-jour, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is contre-jour, spelled C-O-N-T-R-E---J-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1Éclairage d’un objet qui reçoit la lumière du côté opposé à celui où se trouve l’observateur.
- 2Représentation avec cet effet de lumière.
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 “contre-jour”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-O-N-T-R-E---J-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kɔ̃.tʁə.ʒuʁ\ (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.