hors d’œuvre
^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ.dœvʁ\
The verdict
“hors d’œuvre” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Canapés ou grignotises qui sont proposés au début d’un repas.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | hors d’œuvre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ.dœvʁ\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “hors d’œuvre” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
hors d’œuvre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ.dœvʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Canapés ou grignotises qui sont proposés au début d’un repas.".
Zero misspellings are on record for hors d’œuvre in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, 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 hors d’œuvre, spelled H-O-R-S- -D-’-Œ-U-V-R-E.
Definition
- 1Canapés ou grignotises qui sont proposés au début d’un repas.
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
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Using “hors d’œuvre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is H-O-R-S- -D-’-Œ-U-V-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ.dœvʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.