tant bien que mal
\tɑ̃ bjɛ̃ kə mal\
The verdict
“tant bien que mal” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ni mal, ni bien, et avec difficulté.
Corpus desk
Index FR-tant-bien-que-mal · tant bien que mal · French
tant bien que mal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 17 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" 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 | tant bien que mal |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \tɑ̃ bjɛ̃ kə mal\ |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « tant bien que mal » en français
Rare enough to double-check
tant bien que mal is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \tɑ̃ bjɛ̃ kə mal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Ni mal, ni bien, et avec difficulté.".
Zero misspellings are on record for tant bien que mal in our index, 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, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is tant bien que mal, spelled T-A-N-T- -B-I-E-N- -Q-U-E- -M-A-L.
Definition
- 1Ni mal, ni bien, et avec difficulté.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tant bien que mal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Les tuyaux des cheminées furent aussitôt réparés tant bien que mal.
Précédemment se trouvaient là plusieurs vieilles maisons appropriées tant bien que mal, en réalité aussi mal que possible, au logement en chambrées des ouvriers et en cabinets.
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.