en attendant
\ɑ̃.n‿ɑ.tɑ̃.dɑ̃\
The verdict
“en attendant” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Jusqu’à tel moment, jusqu’à tel temps, déterminé par ce qui précède.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-attendant · en attendant · French
en attendant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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 | en attendant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.n‿ɑ.tɑ̃.dɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en attendant » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en attendant is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃.n‿ɑ.tɑ̃.dɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
en attendant doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is en attendant, spelled E-N- -A-T-T-E-N-D-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Jusqu’à tel moment, jusqu’à tel temps, déterminé par ce qui précède.
- 2Sans prendre quelque chose en compte, en l'excluant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en attendant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
D'abord réservées aux scientifiques, les Pyrénées ont ensuite accueilli un tourisme prudent en attendant les pyrénéistes, ivres de conquêtes.
Je vais, en attendant, copier cette lettre.
This word in other languages
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.