en garde
\ɑ̃ ɡaʁd\
The verdict
“en garde” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Position adoptée par les adversaires avant un assaut. ^([1])
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-garde · en garde · French
en garde · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 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 garde |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɑ̃ ɡaʁd\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en garde » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en garde is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɑ̃ ɡaʁd\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Position adoptée par les adversaires avant un assaut. ^([1])".
No generated misspelling entries exist for en garde in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is en garde, spelled E-N- -G-A-R-D-E.
Definition
- 1Position adoptée par les adversaires avant un assaut. ^([1])
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en garde appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Besnard place en garde à peu près comme nous, le corps plus en avant, et le bras gauche aroundi sur le côté de la tête.
Chacun se mit sur son terrain, prit son épée et tomba en garde.
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.