dour

\ˈdʊə(ɹ)\

/\ˈdʊə(ɹ)\/ adj

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

The verdict

“dour” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #44,426. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#44,426
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Austère, dur, inhospitalier.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dour · dour · French

dour · rank #44,426 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #44,426
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH doliprane

Nearest frequency peer: doliprane (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « dour »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « dour » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dour vs du
50% similar
dour vs dr
50% similar
dour vs dur
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dour
PropertyValue
Headworddour
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ˈdʊə(ɹ)\
Letters4
Frequency rank#44,426
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « dour »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).dourse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « doliprane » (#44,425), « draine » (#44,427), « distinctive » (#44,424). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dour » est au #44,426. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around dour (IPA \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #44,426 among 5,307 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for dour, with forms such as "ddour", "doru", and "dourr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "du", "dr", "dur", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is dour, spelled D-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Austère, dur, inhospitalier.
  2. 2
    Inflexible et obstiné.
  3. 3
    Qui exprime la tristesse ou la mélancolie, maussade.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. The Palace was larger than he’d expected, but it seemed a dour building, three hundred yards away, hidden behind a marble monument of some sort. Traffic was a little thicker here, but moved briskly.

Synonyms

forbiddingharshseveresternobstinatestubbornunyieldingdejectedgloomymelancholicsullen

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddour
  • doru
  • dourr
  • duor
  • odur

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dour - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ddour1doru2dourr1duor2odur2
Edit distance from "dour"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dour"?
"dour" is spelled D-O-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\.
What does "dour" mean?
As an adjective, "dour" means: Austère, dur, inhospitalier.
What words are commonly confused with "dour"?
"dour" is commonly confused with "du", "dr", "dur". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dour"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dour" is \ˈdʊə(ɹ)\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dour" come from?
"dour" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dour", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

dice#44,417EPCI#44,449fana#44,457IPv6#44,522

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

kana5 variantsmezzo5 variantsomni5 variantssoto5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list