in petto
\in pɛ.to\
The verdict
“in petto” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dans le secret du cœur, en secret, en parlant du pape, lorsqu’il nomme un cardinal sans le proclamer ni l’instituer.
Corpus desk
Index FR-in-petto · in petto · French
in petto · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | in petto |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \in pɛ.to\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « in petto » en français
Rare enough to double-check
in petto is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \in pɛ.to\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for in petto, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is in petto, spelled I-N- -P-E-T-T-O.
Definition
- 1Dans le secret du cœur, en secret, en parlant du pape, lorsqu’il nomme un cardinal sans le proclamer ni l’instituer.
- 2En le pensant sans le dire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how in petto appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lors du consistoire du 13 mars 1933, Pie XI crée in petto les Italiens Federico Tedeschini et Carlo Salotti.
[Le général Lamarque] était, avec les comtes Gérard et Drouet, un des maréchaux in petto de Napoléon.
Synonyms
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.