mouche à feu

\mu.ʃ‿a fø\

/\mu.ʃ‿a fø\/ noun

The verdict

“mouche à feu” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

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

Corpus desk

Index FR-mouche-a-feu · mouche à feu · French

mouche à feu · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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.

Key facts for mouche à feu
PropertyValue
Headwordmouche à feu
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mu.ʃ‿a fø\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « mouche à feu » en français

mouche à feusiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mouche à feu is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \mu.ʃ‿a fø\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Luciole.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for mouche à feu, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is mouche à feu, spelled M-O-U-C-H-E- -À- -F-E-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Luciole.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Lucioles ailées, les mouches à feu raient la nuit d’un trait lumineux.

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

How do you spell "mouche à feu"?
"mouche à feu" is spelled M-O-U-C-H-E- -À- -F-E-U. The IPA pronunciation is \mu.ʃ‿a fø\.
What does "mouche à feu" mean?
As a noun, "mouche à feu" means: Luciole.
How do you pronounce "mouche à feu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mouche à feu" is \mu.ʃ‿a fø\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mouche à feu" come from?
"mouche à feu" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list