dur

\dyʁ\

/\dyʁ\/ adj

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

The verdict

“dur” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #940) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#940
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dur · dur · French

dur · rank #940 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #940
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH discours

Nearest frequency peer: discours (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “dur”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “dur” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

dur vs DV
0% similar
dur vs dy
33% similar
dur vs dz
33% similar

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

Key facts for dur
PropertyValue
Headworddur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\dyʁ\
Letters3
Frequency rank#940
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “dur” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). dur lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for dur is neighbouring look-alikes ("DV", "dy", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced \dyʁ\. Frequency #940 among 5,307 “D” headwords. 9 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

dur has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "DV", "dy", "dz", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is dur, spelled D-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.
  2. 2
    Qui est opposé à fin.
  3. 3
    Qui est insensible, inhumain ou très sévère ; fâcheux, affligeant, difficile à supporter ; pénible ; rude et désagréable à la sensation.
  4. 4
    Il se dit, dans un sens analogue, des dehors, des manières, des discours.
  5. 5
    Qui est marqué trop fortement ; qui est raide ou heurté.
  6. 6
    Difficile.
  7. 7
    Qui résiste à ; qui supporte.
  8. 8
    Qualifie une mer agitée, aux vagues courtes.
  9. 9
    Qualifie une eau dont la teneur en ions calcium et magnésium dépasse un certain seuil, lequel peut varier selon les normes en vigueur dans chaque pays.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le diamant, qui est le plus dur des minéraux connus, puisqu’il les raye tous, est très fragile : en effet, un coup de marteau donné sur un brillant le fait immédiatement voler en éclats. Le verre, qui est très résistant à l’écrasement, puisqu’il peut supporter la charge de plusieurs tonnes sous une faible épaisseur sans se briser, n'est pas dur : on sait…
  2. Les roches peuvent être dures et cohérentes (pierre, caillou), parfois plastiques (argile) ou meubles (sable), voire liquides (huiles de pétrole) ou gazeuses.

Antonyms

tendremou

This word in other languages

hard(English)duro(Español)hart(Deutsch)duro(Português)

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dur"?
"dur" is spelled D-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \dyʁ\.
What does "dur" mean?
As an adjective, "dur" means: Ferme ; difficile à pénétrer ou à entamer.
What words are commonly confused with "dur"?
"dur" is commonly confused with "DV", "dy", "dz". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dur" is \dyʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dur" come from?
"dur" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "dur", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

vol#929dos#9611er#893via#992

What to do next

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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