dormir debout

\dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\

/\dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“dormir debout” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Être très fatigué au point de somnoler.

Key facts for dormir debout
PropertyValue
Headworddormir debout
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “dormir debout” sits in French frequency

dormir debout falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

dormir debout is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Être très fatigué au point de somnoler.".

Zero misspellings are on record for dormir debout in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is dormir debout, spelled D-O-R-M-I-R- -D-E-B-O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Être très fatigué au point de somnoler.

Synonyms

cogner des clous

This word in other languages

fall asleep(English)

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 "dormir debout"?
"dormir debout" is spelled D-O-R-M-I-R- -D-E-B-O-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is \dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\.
What does "dormir debout" mean?
As a verb, "dormir debout" means: Être très fatigué au point de somnoler.
How do you pronounce "dormir debout"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dormir debout" is \dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dormir debout" come from?
"dormir debout" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “dormir debout”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is D-O-R-M-I-R- -D-E-B-O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \dɔʁ.miʁ də.bu\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list