plutôt que
\ply.to kə\
The verdict
“plutôt que” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a conjunction. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Au lieu de.
Corpus desk
Index FR-plutot-que · plutôt que · French
plutôt que · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" 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 | plutôt que |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Conjunction |
| IPA | \ply.to kə\ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « plutôt que » en français
Rare enough to double-check
plutôt que is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as aconjunction, transcribed \ply.to kə\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Au lieu de.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for plutôt que in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is plutôt que, spelled P-L-U-T-Ô-T- -Q-U-E.
Definition
- 1Au lieu de.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how plutôt que appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
– Tu aurais dû t’occuper des vivants, plutôt que de poursuivre des ombres. Tu as gravement offensé un puissant isAngoma en assommant son fils. Il le pensait invulnérable, il l’avait protégé avec le muthi, l’avait enveloppé de sa magie, et tu l’as humilié devant tous, écrasé comme un vulgaire insecte... Il ne te l’a jamais pardonné, et maintenant les tiens…
Il hocha la tête, soupirant, s’avouant très bas, que peut-être il eût préféré que Jeanne noçât sans rien lui dire, plutôt que de l’abandonner brutalement ainsi.
Synonyms
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.