en sourdine
\ɑ̃ suʁ.din\
The verdict
“en sourdine” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sans bruit.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-sourdine · en sourdine · French
en sourdine · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 sourdine |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃ suʁ.din\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en sourdine » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en sourdine is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃ suʁ.din\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for en sourdine in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is en sourdine, spelled E-N- -S-O-U-R-D-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1Sans bruit.
- 2Secrètement.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en sourdine appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"Je ne sais rien d'elle, reprenait en sourdine le chevalier. Une image profondément gravée dans mon cœur... un souvenir ! Voilà donc tout ce qui me reste de cette rencontre..."
Déjà, parce que j’avais été obligé de courir les hommes d’affaires de Winnipeg, et parce que la nature m’avait enseigné, jusqu’à la discipline la plus parfaite, le Primum vivere, ma douleur ne chantait plus qu’en sourdine. Orchestrant le thème de mon cœur, les autres passions, l’orgueil, la colère et tous ces autres sentiments nécessaires qui sont en nous…
Synonyms
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.