tarte à la crème

\taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\

/\taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“tarte à la crème” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Tarte garnie de crème fouettée ou de crème pâtissière servant, outre à régaler les gourmands, à entarter de grands noms médiatiques avides de notoriété.

Key facts for tarte à la crème
PropertyValue
Headwordtarte à la crème
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tarte à la crème” sits in French frequency

tarte à la crème falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tarte à la crème is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

tarte à la crème has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is tarte à la crème, spelled T-A-R-T-E- -À- -L-A- -C-R-È-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Tarte garnie de crème fouettée ou de crème pâtissière servant, outre à régaler les gourmands, à entarter de grands noms médiatiques avides de notoriété.
  2. 2
    Réponse de Molière aux critiques qui lui reprochaient le prosaïsme de sa comédie L’École des femmes, en faisant répéter par le spectateur difficile de La Critique (1663) la niaiserie d’Arnolphe, dans le but de mettre les rieurs de son côté.
  3. 3
    (Sens courant) Cliché, idée reçue. Thème rebattu, sujet ramené sur le tapis de façon fatigante ; poncif, marronnier, thème martelé par les médias, inlassablement répété par les journalistes et leurs invités, sans jamais rien apporter de nouveau.

This word in other languages

cream pie(English)Sahnetorte(Deutsch)

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 "tarte à la crème"?
"tarte à la crème" is spelled T-A-R-T-E- -À- -L-A- -C-R-È-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is \taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\.
What does "tarte à la crème" mean?
As a noun, "tarte à la crème" means: Tarte garnie de crème fouettée ou de crème pâtissière servant, outre à régaler les gourmands, à entarter de grands noms médiatiques avides de notoriété.
How do you pronounce "tarte à la crème"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tarte à la crème" is \taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tarte à la crème" come from?
"tarte à la crème" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Using “tarte à la crème”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is T-A-R-T-E- -À- -L-A- -C-R-È-M-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \taʁ.t‿a la kʁɛm\ (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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list