de principe
\də pʁɛ̃.sip\
The verdict
“de principe” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - À priori, à première vue.
Corpus desk
Index FR-de-principe · de principe · French
de principe · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 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 | de principe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \də pʁɛ̃.sip\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « de principe » en français
Rare enough to double-check
de principe is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \də pʁɛ̃.sip\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "À priori, à première vue.".
de principe has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is de principe, spelled D-E- -P-R-I-N-C-I-P-E.
Definition
- 1À priori, à première vue.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how de principe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Partout ailleurs, je n’ai qu’une autorité de principe, et en fait incertaine.
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.