magnum opus
\maɡ.nɔ.m‿ɔ.pys\
The verdict
“magnum opus” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand œuvre, réalisation de la pierre philosophale.
Corpus desk
Index FR-magnum-opus · magnum opus · French
magnum opus · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" 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 | magnum opus |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \maɡ.nɔ.m‿ɔ.pys\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « magnum opus » en français
Rare enough to double-check
magnum opus is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \maɡ.nɔ.m‿ɔ.pys\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for magnum opus, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is magnum opus, spelled M-A-G-N-U-M- -O-P-U-S.
Definition
- 1Grand œuvre, réalisation de la pierre philosophale.
- 2Grand œuvre, chef-d’œuvre représentant l’accomplissement de la vie d’un artiste.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how magnum opus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
En comparaison, rappelons, par exemple, que le magnum opus de Günther Anders, L’Obsolescence de l’homme moderne, publié en 1956 en Allemagne (soit deux ans avant The Human Condition), dut attendre 2002 pour se voir traduit et édité en France…
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.