femme de lettres

\fam də lɛtʁ\

/\fam də lɛtʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“femme de lettres” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Écrivaine, littératrice.

Corpus desk

Index FR-femme-de-lettres · femme de lettres · French

femme de lettres · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 16 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "F" 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.

Key facts for femme de lettres
PropertyValue
Headwordfemme de lettres
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fam də lɛtʁ\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « femme de lettres » en français

femme de lettresreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

femme de lettres is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \fam də lɛtʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Écrivaine, littératrice.".

femme de lettres has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored 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 femme de lettres, spelled F-E-M-M-E- -D-E- -L-E-T-T-R-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Écrivaine, littératrice.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how femme de lettres appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Madame de Sévigné était une femme de lettres du XVIIᵉ siècle, connue aujourd’hui pour son abondante correspondance avec sa fille.

Synonyms

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "femme de lettres"?
"femme de lettres" is spelled F-E-M-M-E- -D-E- -L-E-T-T-R-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \fam də lɛtʁ\.
What does "femme de lettres" mean?
As a noun, "femme de lettres" means: Écrivaine, littératrice.
How do you pronounce "femme de lettres"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "femme de lettres" is \fam də lɛtʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "femme de lettres" come from?
"femme de lettres" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list