oiseau de malheur
\wa.zo də ma.lœʁ\
The verdict
“oiseau de malheur” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Oiseau évoquant le mal, en raison de la noirceur de son plumage, de ses cris lugubres, ou de ses habitudes nocturnes, charognardes, etc.
Corpus desk
Index FR-oiseau-de-malheur · oiseau de malheur · French
oiseau de malheur · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-9 9 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" 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 | oiseau de malheur |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \wa.zo də ma.lœʁ\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “oiseau de malheur” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
oiseau de malheur is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \wa.zo də ma.lœʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for oiseau de malheur, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is oiseau de malheur, spelled O-I-S-E-A-U- -D-E- -M-A-L-H-E-U-R.
Definition
- 1Oiseau évoquant le mal, en raison de la noirceur de son plumage, de ses cris lugubres, ou de ses habitudes nocturnes, charognardes, etc.
- 2Annonciateur de catastrophe.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.