de temps en temps
\də.tɑ̃.z‿ɑ̃.tɑ̃\
The verdict
“de temps en temps” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De fois à autre ; quelquefois.
Corpus desk
Index FR-de-temps-en-temps · de temps en temps · French
de temps en temps · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 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 temps en temps |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \də.tɑ̃.z‿ɑ̃.tɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « de temps en temps » en français
Rare enough to double-check
de temps en temps is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \də.tɑ̃.z‿ɑ̃.tɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "De fois à autre ; quelquefois.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for de temps en temps in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is de temps en temps, spelled D-E- -T-E-M-P-S- -E-N- -T-E-M-P-S.
Definition
- 1De fois à autre ; quelquefois.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how de temps en temps appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
On laisse digérer pendant une heure puis on chauffe à 40°C en agitant de temps en temps.
De temps en temps, un requin paraissait à la surface avec son cortège habituel de rémoras parasites et de poissons-pilotes.
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.