en un instant
\ɑ̃.n‿œ̃.n‿ɛ̃s.tɑ̃\
The verdict
“en un instant” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Très rapidement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-un-instant · en un instant · French
en un instant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 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 un instant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.n‿œ̃.n‿ɛ̃s.tɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en un instant » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en un instant is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃.n‿œ̃.n‿ɛ̃s.tɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Très rapidement.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for en un instant, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, 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 easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is en un instant, spelled E-N- -U-N- -I-N-S-T-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Très rapidement.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en un instant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
En un instant, la cousine Bette était redevenue elle-même. En un instant, ce caractère de Corse et de Sauvage, ayant brisé les faibles attaches qui le courbaient, avait repris sa menaçante hauteur, comme un arbre s’échappe des mains de l’enfant qui l’a plié jusqu’à lui pour y voler des fruits verts.
– Eh bien, commença-t-elle avec répugnance, elles se sont dépouillées de leur tunique en un instant.
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.