horreur
^((h muet))\ɔ.ʁœʁ\
The verdict
“horreur” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #3,077 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,077
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mouvement de l’âme généralement accompagné d’un frémissement physique, d’un frisson du corps et causé par quelque chose d’affreux, de révoltant ou de terrible.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | horreur |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | ^((h muet))\ɔ.ʁœʁ\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #3,077 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “horreur” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for horreur is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as ^((h muet))\ɔ.ʁœʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #3,077 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for horreur, with forms such as "hhorreur", "horerur", and "horeur". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "horror", "horreurs", "honneur", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is horreur, spelled H-O-R-R-E-U-R.
Definition
- 1Mouvement de l’âme généralement accompagné d’un frémissement physique, d’un frisson du corps et causé par quelque chose d’affreux, de révoltant ou de terrible.
- 2Chose extrêmement laide dans son genre, ou faite sans goût, sans habileté.
- 3Chose extrêmement laide dans son genre, ou faite sans goût, sans habileté.
- 4Chose extrêmement laide dans son genre, ou faite sans goût, sans habileté.
- 5Exclamation utilisée lorsqu’on veut marquer la répugnance qu’on a pour quelqu’un ou pour quelque chose.
- 6Exclamation utilisée lorsqu’on veut marquer la répugnance qu’on a pour quelqu’un ou pour quelque chose.
- 7Il se dit des choses qui font éprouver un sentiment d’effroi mêlé d’admiration, comme une grande tempête, un vaste incendie, etc.
- 8Il signifie aussi répulsion violente que vous cause une personne ou une chose effrayante ou haïssable.
- 9Sentiment de saisissement, de crainte mystérieuse et de mystère.
- 10Ce qu’ont d’horrible, d’effrayant ou de sinistre certains lieux ou certains objets.
- 11Ce qu’ont d’horrible, d’effrayant ou de sinistre certains lieux ou certains objets.
- 12Énormité d’une mauvaise action, d’une action cruelle, infâme, etc.
- 13Il se dit également des choses mêmes qui sont atroces, infâmes, etc.
- 14Choses horribles ou désastreuses, maux extrêmes, privations cruelles.
- 15Il se dit, particulièrement, des choses déshonorantes qu’on attribue à quelqu’un; et alors il s’emploie toujours au pluriel.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhorreur,horerur,horeur,horreru,horreurr,horruer,hroreur,ohrreur
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of horreur - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "horreur"?
What does "horreur" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "horreur"?
How do you pronounce "horreur"?
What language does "horreur" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “horreur”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is H-O-R-R-E-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as ^((h muet))\ɔ.ʁœʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “horror” - see the side-by-side comparison. horreur vs horror
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.