porte-bonheur

\pɔʁt.bɔ.nœʁ\

/\pɔʁt.bɔ.nœʁ\/ adj

The verdict

“porte-bonheur” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui porte chance.

Corpus desk

Index FR-porte-bonheur · porte-bonheur · French

porte-bonheur · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 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.

Key facts for porte-bonheur
PropertyValue
Headwordporte-bonheur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pɔʁt.bɔ.nœʁ\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « porte-bonheur » en français

porte-bonheurn'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

porte-bonheur is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \pɔʁt.bɔ.nœʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Qui porte chance.".

No misspelling variants are generated for porte-bonheur in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is porte-bonheur, spelled P-O-R-T-E---B-O-N-H-E-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui porte chance.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Un fer à cheval porte-bonheur, cloué sur la muraille, indiquait la demeure d’Honoré Demasure, le communiste.
  2. On n’imagine pas, aujourd’hui, qu’un tel pays existe […] à cause de cette histoire d’arbre porte-bonheur à laquelle les hommes et les femmes croient toujours alors que, comme la plupart des particuliers que nous rencontrons quotidiennement, ils vivent à l’aube du XXIᵉ siècle.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "porte-bonheur"?
"porte-bonheur" is spelled P-O-R-T-E---B-O-N-H-E-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔʁt.bɔ.nœʁ\.
What does "porte-bonheur" mean?
As an adjective, "porte-bonheur" means: Qui porte chance.
How do you pronounce "porte-bonheur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "porte-bonheur" is \pɔʁt.bɔ.nœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "porte-bonheur" come from?
"porte-bonheur" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list