pour rien
\puʁ ʁjɛ̃\
The verdict
“pour rien” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sans motif ni raison.
Corpus desk
Index FR-pour-rien · pour rien · French
pour rien · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 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 | pour rien |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \puʁ ʁjɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « pour rien » en français
Rare enough to double-check
pour rien is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \puʁ ʁjɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for pour rien in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pour rien, spelled P-O-U-R- -R-I-E-N.
Definition
- 1Sans motif ni raison.
- 2Pas cher, dérisoire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pour rien appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
C’est maintenant le tour des trois frères de Fernande, bons garçons en ce moment un peu bus, avec des rires pour rien et des poignées de main fracassantes.
Non ! non ! ne me rendez pas la monnaie… trois cents francs, c’est pour rien.
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.