prendre par surprise
\pʁɑ̃dʁ paʁ syʁ.pʁiz\
The verdict
“prendre par surprise” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Surprendre quelqu’un, sans qu’il ne s’y attende.
Corpus desk
Index FR-prendre-par-surprise · prendre par surprise · French
prendre par surprise · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-6 6 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 | prendre par surprise |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \pʁɑ̃dʁ paʁ syʁ.pʁiz\ |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « prendre par surprise » en français
Rare enough to double-check
prendre par surprise is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁɑ̃dʁ paʁ syʁ.pʁiz\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Surprendre quelqu’un, sans qu’il ne s’y attende.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for prendre par surprise, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, 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 best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is prendre par surprise, spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -P-A-R- -S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E.
Definition
- 1Surprendre quelqu’un, sans qu’il ne s’y attende.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how prendre par surprise appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
S’il semblait avoir baissé sa garde, il restait vigilant, et envisager de le prendre par surprise aurait été une erreur grossière.
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.