hors des sentiers battus

^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ dɛ sɑ̃.tje ba.ty\

/^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ dɛ sɑ̃.tje ba.ty\/ adv

The verdict

“hors des sentiers battus” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
24
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De manière originale, en prenant des risques.

Corpus desk

Index FR-hors-des-sentiers-battus · hors des sentiers battus · French

hors des sentiers battus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 24 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "H" 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 hors des sentiers battus
PropertyValue
Headwordhors des sentiers battus
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ dɛ sɑ̃.tje ba.ty\
Letters24
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « hors des sentiers battus » en français

hors des sentiers battusreste 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

hors des sentiers battus is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ dɛ sɑ̃.tje ba.ty\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "De manière originale, en prenant des risques.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for hors des sentiers battus, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is hors des sentiers battus, spelled H-O-R-S- -D-E-S- -S-E-N-T-I-E-R-S- -B-A-T-T-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    De manière originale, en prenant des risques.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how hors des sentiers battus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. La recherche scientifique est fondée sur l’argumentation rationnelle et les observations objectives. Mais elle progresse parfois au gré de cheminements improbables, en s’appuyant sur des personnages a priori marginaux, dont les itinéraires personnels, hors des sentiers battus, nourrissent les intuitions et les rencontres, jusqu’à en faire des inventeurs g…

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 "hors des sentiers battus"?
"hors des sentiers battus" is spelled H-O-R-S- -D-E-S- -S-E-N-T-I-E-R-S- -B-A-T-T-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ dɛ sɑ̃.tje ba.ty\.
What does "hors des sentiers battus" mean?
As an adverb, "hors des sentiers battus" means: De manière originale, en prenant des risques.
How do you pronounce "hors des sentiers battus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "hors des sentiers battus" is ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁ dɛ sɑ̃.tje ba.ty\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "hors des sentiers battus" come from?
"hors des sentiers battus" 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