se creuser la cervelle
\sə kʁø.ze la sɛʁ.vɛl\
The verdict
“se creuser la cervelle” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 22
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Réfléchir intensément.
Corpus desk
Index FR-se-creuser-la-cervelle · se creuser la cervelle · French
se creuser la cervelle · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 22 letters
- VOW-8 8 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" 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 | se creuser la cervelle |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \sə kʁø.ze la sɛʁ.vɛl\ |
| Letters | 22 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « se creuser la cervelle » en français
Rare enough to double-check
se creuser la cervelle is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \sə kʁø.ze la sɛʁ.vɛl\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Réfléchir intensément.".
se creuser la cervelle has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is se creuser la cervelle, spelled S-E- -C-R-E-U-S-E-R- -L-A- -C-E-R-V-E-L-L-E.
Definition
- 1Réfléchir intensément.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how se creuser la cervelle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Juliette ramena avec elle un petit Espagnol d’un an, qu’on avait trouvé emmailloté dans un train de l’Espagne en feu et apporté à Paris. Sans beaucoup se creuser la cervelle, elles l’appelèrent José.
– Voilà huit jours, dit Martin, que je me creuse la cervelle pour savoir comment entrer en contact avec toi.
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.