pot au noir
\pɔ.t‿o.nwaʁ\
The verdict
“pot au noir” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mésaventure, situation inextricable.
Corpus desk
Index FR-pot-au-noir · pot au noir · French
pot au noir · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pot au noir |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pɔ.t‿o.nwaʁ\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « pot au noir » en français
Rare enough to double-check
pot au noir is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pɔ.t‿o.nwaʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for pot au noir in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is pot au noir, spelled P-O-T- -A-U- -N-O-I-R.
Definition
- 1Mésaventure, situation inextricable.
- 2Zone d'orages sans visibilité.
- 3(Spécialement) Nom donné par les marins à la ceinture équatoriale de zones de basses pressions fortement convectives, formée par la convergence des masses d’air chaudes et humides provenant des tropiques portées par les alizés.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pot au noir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
— Hélas ! j'ai une vanité que vous, mon sage ami, ne pouvez comprendre ; ma position serait intolérable; je ne pourrais répondre à certaines plaisanteries. Je ne vois que la guerre pour me tirer du pot au noir où je me suis fourré sans savoir ce que je faisais.
Je me rappelai le vol dans le fameux « pot au noir », le long de la côte de l’Amérique du Sud, où je fus obligé de raser les flots jusqu’à tremper les roues du Nungesser-Coli dans la crête d’une haute vague.
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.