ouvre-lettre
\u.vʁə.lɛtʁ\
The verdict
“ouvre-lettre” 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) - Instrument en bois, en métal ou en toute autre matière, qui sert à couper le papier et spécialement les enveloppes.
Corpus desk
Index FR-ouvre-lettre · ouvre-lettre · French
ouvre-lettre · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 | ouvre-lettre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \u.vʁə.lɛtʁ\ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « ouvre-lettre » en français
Rare enough to double-check
ouvre-lettre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \u.vʁə.lɛtʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Instrument en bois, en métal ou en toute autre matière, qui sert à couper le papier et spécialement les enveloppes.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for ouvre-lettre in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is ouvre-lettre, spelled O-U-V-R-E---L-E-T-T-R-E.
Definition
- 1Instrument en bois, en métal ou en toute autre matière, qui sert à couper le papier et spécialement les enveloppes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ouvre-lettre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Jacques s’empara du scalpel de chirurgien qui servait d’ouvre-lettre, il se gratta la base du cou sous la chemise.
Un des côtés de l’enveloppe était grossièrement déchiré, comme par un doigt qui aurait servi d’ouvre-lettre.
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.