quel que soit

\kɛl kə swa\

/\kɛl kə swa\/ adj

The verdict

“quel que soit” 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) - Pour tout, pour n’importe lequel des éléments désignés ensuite.

Corpus desk

Index FR-quel-que-soit · quel que soit · French

quel que soit · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "Q" 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 quel que soit
PropertyValue
Headwordquel que soit
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\kɛl kə swa\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « quel que soit » en français

quel que soitn'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

quel que soit is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \kɛl kə swa\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Pour tout, pour n’importe lequel des éléments désignés ensuite.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for quel que soit, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is quel que soit, spelled Q-U-E-L- -Q-U-E- -S-O-I-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pour tout, pour n’importe lequel des éléments désignés ensuite.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how quel que soit appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nous avons dit que l’impôt sera odieux, quel qu’en soit le montant, tant qu’il prendra dans la bourse du contribuable, pour ne rien y rapporter.
  2. Quelles que soient la bonne foi et la conviction de ceux qui proclament le danger de cet article, et qui veulent le faire rejeter, j’atteste qu’avec la même bonne foi je suis intimement convaincu de ses salutaires effets, […].

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 "quel que soit"?
"quel que soit" is spelled Q-U-E-L- -Q-U-E- -S-O-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is \kɛl kə swa\.
What does "quel que soit" mean?
As an adjective, "quel que soit" means: Pour tout, pour n’importe lequel des éléments désignés ensuite.
How do you pronounce "quel que soit"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quel que soit" is \kɛl kə swa\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "quel que soit" come from?
"quel que soit" 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