sous-lieutenant
\su.ljøt.nɑ̃\
The verdict
“sous-lieutenant” 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
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Grade donné à un officier subalterne dans l’armée de terre, l’armée de l’air et la gendarmerie nationale de France, situé entre son supérieur hiérarchique, le lieutenant, et son subordonné, l’aspir...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sous-lieutenant |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \su.ljøt.nɑ̃\ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sous-lieutenant” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for sous-lieutenant is 15 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \su.ljøt.nɑ̃\. 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.
sous-lieutenant has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is sous-lieutenant, spelled S-O-U-S---L-I-E-U-T-E-N-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1Grade donné à un officier subalterne dans l’armée de terre, l’armée de l’air et la gendarmerie nationale de France, situé entre son supérieur hiérarchique, le lieutenant, et son subordonné, l’aspirant. Ce grade correspond à celui d’enseigne de vaisseau de deuxième classe dans la Marine nationale française. Le code OTAN : OF-1.
- 2Grade d’officier des Forces armées canadiennes.
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
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Using “sous-lieutenant”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is S-O-U-S---L-I-E-U-T-E-N-A-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \su.ljøt.nɑ̃\ (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
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.