erst
\eːɐ̯st\
The verdict
“erst” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - D'abord, premièrement.
Corpus desk
Index FR-erst · erst · French
erst · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- 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 | erst |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \eːɐ̯st\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « erst » en français
Rare enough to double-check
erst is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \eːɐ̯st\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for erst in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is erst, spelled E-R-S-T.
Definition
- 1D'abord, premièrement.
- 2Seulement, (ne...que).
- 3Raison de plus, en plus de cela.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how erst appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Sie isst erst die Vorspeise.
Du machst lieber erst eine Fotokopie.
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.