dire adieu
\di.ʁ‿a.djø\
The verdict
“dire adieu” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prendre congé de quelqu’un ou quelque chose.
Corpus desk
Index FR-dire-adieu · dire adieu · French
dire adieu · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-6 6 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 | dire adieu |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \di.ʁ‿a.djø\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « dire adieu » en français
Rare enough to double-check
dire adieu is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \di.ʁ‿a.djø\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for dire adieu, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is dire adieu, spelled D-I-R-E- -A-D-I-E-U.
Definition
- 1Prendre congé de quelqu’un ou quelque chose.
- 2quitter quelqu’un.
- 3Quitter quelque chose, partir de, renoncer à.
- 4Partir définitivement.
- 5Abandonner.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dire adieu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Il ne me reste plus sinon que de prendre Le dernier congé de vous, & vous dire Adieu.
Je vais te dire adieu La belle vie Ça ne m’intéresse pas Je vais te dire adieu La fête est finie Pour moi.
Synonyms
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.