en secret
\ɑ̃ sə.kʁɛ\
The verdict
“en secret” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sans témoin, en se cachant.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-secret · en secret · French
en secret · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 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 secret |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃ sə.kʁɛ\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en secret » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en secret is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃ sə.kʁɛ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
en secret doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is en secret, spelled E-N- -S-E-C-R-E-T.
Definition
- 1Sans témoin, en se cachant.
- 2D’une manière secrète, cachée, dissimulée.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en secret appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Je lui ai parlé en secret. Il ne travaille à cela qu’en secret. Ils se voient en secret.
Il feint de l’aimer, mais en secret il le déteste.
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.