Ourthe

\uʁt\

/\uʁt\/ name

The verdict

“Ourthe” is uncommon French (frequency #77,763 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,763
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rivière de Belgique, affluent en rive droite de la Meuse.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ourthe · Ourthe · French

Ourthe · rank #77,763 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,763
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH orienta

Nearest frequency peer: orienta (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « Ourthe »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « Ourthe » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Ourthe
PropertyValue
HeadwordOurthe
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
IPA\uʁt\
Letters6
Frequency rank#77,763
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « Ourthe » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).Ourthetombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « orienta » (#77,762), « outrées » (#77,764), « orchestral » (#77,761). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « Ourthe » est au #77,763. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Ourthe is uncommon French at frequency #77,763 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed \uʁt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Rivière de Belgique, affluent en rive droite de la Meuse.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Ourthe, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is Ourthe, spelled O-U-R-T-H-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rivière de Belgique, affluent en rive droite de la Meuse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Si par malheur les crues de l’Ourthe coïncidaient avec celles de la Meuse, des inondations catastrophiques affectaient toute la vallée en aval de Liège.
  2. Les habitants d’Houffalize, tapie au fond de sa vallée, au bord de l’Ourthe claire, et que la guerre avait jusque là épargnée, virent arriver les avions […], et une minute plus tard, Houffalize n'existait plus.

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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Ourthe"?
"Ourthe" is spelled O-U-R-T-H-E. The IPA pronunciation is \uʁt\.
What does "Ourthe" mean?
As a proper noun, "Ourthe" means: Rivière de Belgique, affluent en rive droite de la Meuse.
How do you pronounce "Ourthe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Ourthe" is \uʁt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Ourthe" come from?
"Ourthe" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Ourthe", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list