idée

/\i.de\/ noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#354

in French word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

idée is aFrenchnoun. It means: Suggestion. Pronounced \i.de\. It ranks #354 in French word frequency. Often confused with ie and ile.

Key facts for idée
PropertyValue
Headwordidée
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\i.de\
Letters4
Frequency rank#354
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of idée in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for idée is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \i.de\. Corpus data places it at rank #354 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for idée, with forms such as "diée", "iddée", and "idee". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ie", "ile", "ive", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is idée, spelled I-D-É-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Suggestion.
  2. 2
    Possibilité.
  3. 3
    Façon de faire, plus ou moins originale, qu’un individu ou un groupe d’individus imagine dans le domaine de la connaissance, de l’action ou de la création artistique.
  4. 4
    Solution nouvelle et adaptée au problème de l’interlocuteur (quelque chose qui résout son problème de façon inattendue, quelque chose d’efficace à quoi il n’avait pas pensé ou qu'il n’avait pas envisagé).
  5. 5
    Représentation d’un être ou d’une chose dans l’esprit ; notion que l’esprit reçoit ou se forme de quelque chose.
  6. 6
    Archétype, modèle éternel et absolu de toutes les choses créées.
  7. 7
    Pensée ; conception de l’esprit ; opinion ; réflexion, etc.
  8. 8
    Disposition d’esprit, direction de pensée et de sentiment, particuliers à un peuple, à une classe.
  9. 9
    Système de pensée.
  10. 10
    Forme immuable d’une réalité perçue par la raison, essence intelligible et éternelle des choses sensibles.
  11. 11
    Préoccupation d’un caractère morbide.
  12. 12
    Souvenir.
  13. 13
    Invention, en parlant d’une production des arts.
  14. 14
    Esquisse, ébauche rapide d’un ouvrage.
  15. 15
    Ouvrage trop peu achevé.
  16. 16
    Les visions chimériques, les choses qui ne sauraient avoir lieu, qui ne peuvent se réaliser.
  17. 17
    Pensée, esprit, imagination.

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: diée,iddée,idee,ideé,iéde

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for idée

Misspelling Variants of "idée"

diée4iddée5idee4ideé4iéde4
Misspelling Variants of "idée"

Frequency rank: #354 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "idée"?
"idée" is spelled I-D-É-E. The IPA pronunciation is \i.de\.
What does "idée" mean?
As a noun, "idée" means: Suggestion.
What words are commonly confused with "idée"?
"idée" is commonly confused with "ie", "ile", "ive". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "idée"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "idée" is \i.de\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "idée" come from?
"idée" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter I in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.