doux
\du\
The verdict
“doux” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,316 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #2,316
- frequency rank, French
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Agréable au toucher.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | doux |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \du\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,316 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “doux” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for doux is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \du\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,316 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for doux, with forms such as "ddoux", "douxx", and "doxu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "du", "dur", "duc", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is doux, spelled D-O-U-X.
Definition
- 1Agréable au toucher.
- 2D’une saveur peu prononcée, ni acide, ni amer, ni piquante. Se dit aussi d’une saveur crémeuse et à la texture soyeuse.
- 3Agréable à entendre, ni heurté, ni fort.
- 4Pour une eau, à teneur faible en minéraux, en particulier le sel.
- 5Sucré, en évoquant une nourriture, ou une boisson.
- 6Apportant du réconfort, du bien-être.
- 7Qui n’a rien de fatigant.
- 8Qualifie une consonne sonore, qui n’est pas sourde.
- 9D’un caractère affable et conciliant.
- 10Peu pénible, peu difficile à supporter, à endurer, à observer, qui n’est pas imposé ou infligé avec trop de rigueur.
- 11Qui est de température tiède.
- 12Qui se plie aisément sans se casser.
- 13Qualifie une eau dont la teneur en ions calcium et magnésium reste en dessous d’un certain seuil, lequel peut varier selon les normes en vigueur dans chaque pays.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddoux,douxx,doxu,duox,odux
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of doux - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "doux"?
What does "doux" mean?
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Using “doux”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is D-O-U-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \du\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “du” - see the side-by-side comparison. doux vs du
- 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.