soit dit en passant

\swa di.t‿ɑ̃ pa.sɑ̃\

/\swa di.t‿ɑ̃ pa.sɑ̃\/ adv

The verdict

“soit dit en passant” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
19
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Se dit lorsque l’on ajoute un point à une conversation sans pour autant s’y attarder.

Corpus desk

Index FR-soit-dit-en-passant · soit dit en passant · French

soit dit en passant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 19 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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.

Key facts for soit dit en passant
PropertyValue
Headwordsoit dit en passant
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\swa di.t‿ɑ̃ pa.sɑ̃\
Letters19
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « soit dit en passant » en français

soit dit en passantn'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

soit dit en passant is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \swa di.t‿ɑ̃ pa.sɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Se dit lorsque l’on ajoute un point à une conversation sans pour autant s’y attarder.".

soit dit en passant has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is soit dit en passant, spelled S-O-I-T- -D-I-T- -E-N- -P-A-S-S-A-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Se dit lorsque l’on ajoute un point à une conversation sans pour autant s’y attarder.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La mère Cœuret (qui est mourante, soit dit en passant) est une veinarde, une favorisée.
  2. L’Empire avait pour politique de se glisser autant que possible dans les us et coutumes des peuples dont il avait la charge, ce qui explique pour beaucoup, soit dit en passant, sa longévité.

Synonyms

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 "soit dit en passant"?
"soit dit en passant" is spelled S-O-I-T- -D-I-T- -E-N- -P-A-S-S-A-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \swa di.t‿ɑ̃ pa.sɑ̃\.
What does "soit dit en passant" mean?
As an adverb, "soit dit en passant" means: Se dit lorsque l’on ajoute un point à une conversation sans pour autant s’y attarder.
How do you pronounce "soit dit en passant"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "soit dit en passant" is \swa di.t‿ɑ̃ pa.sɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "soit dit en passant" come from?
"soit dit en passant" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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