prendre à cœur

\pʁɑ̃.dʁ‿a kœʁ\

/\pʁɑ̃.dʁ‿a kœʁ\/ verb

The verdict

“prendre à cœur” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - S’affecter d’une chose, y être vivement sensible.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prendre-a-c-ur · prendre à cœur · French

prendre à cœur · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 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 prendre à cœur
PropertyValue
Headwordprendre à cœur
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pʁɑ̃.dʁ‿a kœʁ\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « prendre à cœur » en français

prendre à cœurn'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

prendre à cœur is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁɑ̃.dʁ‿a kœʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "S’affecter d’une chose, y être vivement sensible.".

prendre à cœur doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is prendre à cœur, spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -À- -C-Œ-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    S’affecter d’une chose, y être vivement sensible.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how prendre à cœur appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Et c'est bien normal qu'il prenne à cœur tes études, surtout si tu foxes tes cours spéciaux deux fois sur trois. Ça va donner quoi à la fin de l'année ?
  2. Nos académiciens prennent très à cœur leur mission, source de nombreux plaisirs.

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 "prendre à cœur"?
"prendre à cœur" is spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -À- -C-Œ-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pʁɑ̃.dʁ‿a kœʁ\.
What does "prendre à cœur" mean?
As a verb, "prendre à cœur" means: S’affecter d’une chose, y être vivement sensible.
How do you pronounce "prendre à cœur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prendre à cœur" is \pʁɑ̃.dʁ‿a kœʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prendre à cœur" come from?
"prendre à cœur" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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