idle

\ˈaɪ.dəl\

/\ˈaɪ.dəl\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“idle” is uncommon French (frequency #56,024 among 3,561 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,024
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Oisif.

Corpus desk

Index FR-idle · idle · French

idle · rank #56,024 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,024
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH hôtelières

Nearest frequency peer: hôtelières (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « idle »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « idle » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for idle
PropertyValue
Headwordidle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ˈaɪ.dəl\
Letters4
Frequency rank#56,024
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « idle » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.idletombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « hôtelières » (#56,023), « idoine » (#56,025), « hétérosexuelle » (#56,022). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « idle » est au #56,024. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

idle is uncommon French at frequency #56,024 among 3,561 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ˈaɪ.dəl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

idle doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is idle, spelled I-D-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Oisif.
  2. 2
    Fainéant.
  3. 3
    Vain.
  4. 4
    Vide, vacant.
  5. 5
    Ce dont on fait pas un usage approprié, inoccupé.
  6. 6
    Qui n’est engagé dans aucune occupation, aucun emploi, qui est oisif, inemployé, inactif, qui ne fait rien.
  7. 7
    Rétif au travail, à l'occupation ; fainéant ; paresseux ; indolent.
  8. 8
    Sans importance, inutile, sans valeur, vain, négligeable, ridicule.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ever since he lost his job, he just stands around idle, without doing a thing around the house either.
  2. the idle rich

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 "idle"?
"idle" is spelled I-D-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈaɪ.dəl\.
What does "idle" mean?
As an adjective, "idle" means: Oisif.
How do you pronounce "idle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "idle" is \ˈaɪ.dəl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "idle" come from?
"idle" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "idle", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Haus#56,013ingé#56,035jesu#56,057kona#56,066

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list