question de vie ou de mort

/\kɛs.tjɔ̃ də vi u də mɔʁ\/ noun

The verdict

“question de vie ou de mort” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
26
letters

Dominant Wiktionary sense: Chose qui permet la survie ou cause la mort.

Key facts for question de vie ou de mort
PropertyValue
Headwordquestion de vie ou de mort
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɛs.tjɔ̃ də vi u də mɔʁ\
Letters26
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “question de vie ou de mort” sits in French frequency

question de vie ou de mort falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for question de vie ou de mort is 26 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɛs.tjɔ̃ də vi u də mɔʁ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for question de vie ou de mort in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is question de vie ou de mort, spelled Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N- -D-E- -V-I-E- -O-U- -D-E- -M-O-R-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chose qui permet la survie ou cause la mort.
  2. 2
    Chose de très grande importance.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “question de vie ou de mort, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/question-de-vie-ou-de-mort

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "question de vie ou de mort"?
"question de vie ou de mort" is spelled Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N- -D-E- -V-I-E- -O-U- -D-E- -M-O-R-T. The IPA pronunciation is \kɛs.tjɔ̃ də vi u də mɔʁ\.
What does "question de vie ou de mort" mean?
As a noun, "question de vie ou de mort" means: Chose qui permet la survie ou cause la mort.
How do you pronounce "question de vie ou de mort"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "question de vie ou de mort" is \kɛs.tjɔ̃ də vi u də mɔʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "question de vie ou de mort" come from?
"question de vie ou de mort" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “question de vie ou de mort”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is Q-U-E-S-T-I-O-N- -D-E- -V-I-E- -O-U- -D-E- -M-O-R-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \kɛs.tjɔ̃ də vi u də mɔʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter Q in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list