idée fixe
\i.de fiks\
The verdict
“idée fixe” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Idée qui occupe et obsède l’esprit sans relâche, au point d’interférer dans des ordres de considération ; et qui pour un esprit rassis lui paraîtraient étrangères.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | idée fixe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \i.de fiks\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “idée fixe” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for idée fixe is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \i.de fiks\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Idée qui occupe et obsède l’esprit sans relâche, au point d’interférer dans des ordres de considération ; et qui pour un esprit rassis lui paraîtraient étrangères.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for idée fixe in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is idée fixe, spelled I-D-É-E- -F-I-X-E.
Definition
- 1Idée qui occupe et obsède l’esprit sans relâche, au point d’interférer dans des ordres de considération ; et qui pour un esprit rassis lui paraîtraient étrangères.
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
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Using “idée fixe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is I-D-É-E- -F-I-X-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \i.de fiks\ (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.