sérieux
\se.ʁjø\
The verdict
“sérieux” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #889 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #889
- frequency rank, French
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est grave ; qui agit avec réflexion.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sérieux |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \se.ʁjø\ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #889 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sérieux” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for sérieux is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \se.ʁjø\. Corpus data places it at rank #889 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for sérieux, with forms such as "serieux", "sréieux", and "ssérieux". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "seriez", "serveur", "serious", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is sérieux, spelled S-É-R-I-E-U-X.
Definition
- 1Qui est grave ; qui agit avec réflexion.
- 2Qui ne fait pas d’écart de conduite.
- 3Qui est solide ou important.
- 4Qui est crédible ou digne de confiance.
- 5Qui est sincère ou vrai.
- 6Qui peut avoir des suites fâcheuses ou de graves conséquences.
- 7Qui est fait sérieusement.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: serieux,sréieux,ssérieux,séireux,séreiux,sérieuxx,sériexu,sériuex,sérrieux,ésrieux
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of sérieux - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "sérieux"?
What does "sérieux" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "sérieux"?
How do you pronounce "sérieux"?
What language does "sérieux" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “sérieux”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-É-R-I-E-U-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \se.ʁjø\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “seriez” - see the side-by-side comparison. sérieux vs seriez
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.