rien moins que

\ʁjɛ̃ mwɛ̃ kə\

/\ʁjɛ̃ mwɛ̃ kə\/ adv

The verdict

“rien moins que” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. 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) - Nullement, pas du tout.

Corpus desk

Index FR-rien-moins-que · rien moins que · French

rien moins que · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "R" 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 rien moins que
PropertyValue
Headwordrien moins que
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\ʁjɛ̃ mwɛ̃ kə\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « rien moins que » en français

rien moins quen'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

rien moins que is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ʁjɛ̃ mwɛ̃ kə\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for rien moins que, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is rien moins que, spelled R-I-E-N- -M-O-I-N-S- -Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nullement, pas du tout.
  2. 2
    Tout à fait ; absolument (contre-sens, cf. Notes).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. « Il est rien moins qu’un sot » signifie, « il n’est pas du tout un imbécile ».
  2. Il y eut un dîner chez les Serpierre, fort simple, car ils n’étaient rien moins que riches.

Antonyms

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 "rien moins que"?
"rien moins que" is spelled R-I-E-N- -M-O-I-N-S- -Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁjɛ̃ mwɛ̃ kə\.
What does "rien moins que" mean?
As an adverb, "rien moins que" means: Nullement, pas du tout.
How do you pronounce "rien moins que"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rien moins que" is \ʁjɛ̃ mwɛ̃ kə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "rien moins que" come from?
"rien moins que" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list