ne pas se moucher du coude
\nə pa sə mu.ʃe dy kud\
The verdict
“ne pas se moucher du coude” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 26
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ne pas être dupe ; être intelligent, habile.
Corpus desk
Index FR-ne-pas-se-moucher-du-cou · ne pas se moucher du coude · French
ne pas se moucher du coude · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 26 letters
- VOW-10 10 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "N" 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 | ne pas se moucher du coude |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \nə pa sə mu.ʃe dy kud\ |
| Letters | 26 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « ne pas se moucher du coude » en français
Rare enough to double-check
ne pas se moucher du coude is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \nə pa sə mu.ʃe dy kud\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for ne pas se moucher du coude in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is ne pas se moucher du coude, spelled N-E- -P-A-S- -S-E- -M-O-U-C-H-E-R- -D-U- -C-O-U-D-E.
Definition
- 1Ne pas être dupe ; être intelligent, habile.
- 2Se donner trop d’importance.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ne pas se moucher du coude appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Au Vatican, il y a un monseigneur qui ne se mouche pas du coude. C’est le cardinal Bertone, ancien homme de confiance de Benoît XVI, qui a choisi de s’installer dans un appartement de 700 m², alors que le pape François n’en dispose, lui, que de 70.
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.