d’où
\d‿u\
The verdict
“d’où” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De quel endroit.
Corpus desk
Index FR-d-ou · d’où · French
d’où · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "D" 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 | d’où |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \d‿u\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « d’où » en français
Rare enough to double-check
d’où is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \d‿u\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for d’où in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is d’où, spelled D-’-O-Ù.
Definition
- 1De quel endroit.
- 2De quoi, marquant l’origine ou la cause.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how d’où appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
On s'arrachait ces lettres encore tout humides de la presse clandestine qui venait de les mettre au jour. D'où arrivaient-elles? De partout et de nulle part. Elles étaient datées de Leipzig, de Wittemberg, de Mayence, de Bâle, de Londres, de Paris, même de Rome.
Que faisait-il au Klondike ? D’où venait-il, où allait-il, quand il était tombé aux portes de Dawson ? On n’avait aucun renseignement sur ce sujet.
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.