de rien

\də ʁjɛ̃\

/\də ʁjɛ̃\/ intj

The verdict

“de rien” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an interjection. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Formule de politesse employée en réponse à merci.

Corpus desk

Index FR-de-rien · de rien · French

de rien · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 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.

Key facts for de rien
PropertyValue
Headwordde rien
LanguageFrench
Part of speechInterjection
IPA\də ʁjɛ̃\
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « de rien » en français

de rienreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

de rien is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as aninterjection, transcribed \də ʁjɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Formule de politesse employée en réponse à merci.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for de rien, 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 usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is de rien, spelled D-E- -R-I-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Formule de politesse employée en réponse à merci.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how de rien appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. — Merci de votre aide. — De rien, monsieur, c’est normal.
  2. — Je vous remercie du coup de main que vous m’avez donné. — De rien.

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "de rien"?
"de rien" is spelled D-E- -R-I-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is \də ʁjɛ̃\.
What does "de rien" mean?
As an interjection, "de rien" means: Formule de politesse employée en réponse à merci.
How do you pronounce "de rien"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "de rien" is \də ʁjɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "de rien" come from?
"de rien" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list