coup de tonnerre
\ku də tɔ.nɛʁ\
The verdict
“coup de tonnerre” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action de la foudre sur les corps qu’elle frappe.
Corpus desk
Index FR-coup-de-tonnerre · coup de tonnerre · French
coup de tonnerre · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-6 6 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 | coup de tonnerre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ku də tɔ.nɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « coup de tonnerre » en français
Rare enough to double-check
coup de tonnerre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ku də tɔ.nɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for coup de tonnerre, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is coup de tonnerre, spelled C-O-U-P- -D-E- -T-O-N-N-E-R-R-E.
Definition
- 1Action de la foudre sur les corps qu’elle frappe.
- 2Bruit qui accompagne ou suit un éclair.
- 3Chamboulement soudain.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how coup de tonnerre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
L’atmosphère avait été lourde pendant toute la journée, et le soir un orage terrible se déclara. Les coups de tonnerre se succédaient sans interruption ; la pluie tombait, torrentielle.
Tout un crépitement de coups de feu et d’éclatements de projectiles commença, et Bert vit autour de lui, l’enveloppant, l’engloutissant, le submergeant, une immense fulguration blanche accompagnée d’un coup de tonnerre semblable à l’explosion d’un monde.
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.