en dessous
\ɑ̃ də.su\
The verdict
“en dessous” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Du côté de dessous, vers ou dans la partie de dessous.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-dessous · en dessous · French
en dessous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 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 dessous |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃ də.su\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en dessous » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en dessous is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃ də.su\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for en dessous in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is en dessous, spelled E-N- -D-E-S-S-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Du côté de dessous, vers ou dans la partie de dessous.
- 2Secrètement, discrètement.
- 3Sournoisement.
- 4Obliquement, en baissant les yeux.
- 5À la manière d’une personne sournoise, cafarde.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en dessous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Un pain tout brûlé en dessous.
Ces clous sont rivés en dessous.
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.