tenir debout

\tə.niʁ də.bu\

/\tə.niʁ də.bu\/ verb

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

The verdict

“tenir debout” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Sembler valable, être cohérent, avoir une apparence logique.

Key facts for tenir debout
PropertyValue
Headwordtenir debout
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\tə.niʁ də.bu\
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tenir debout” sits in French frequency

tenir debout 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

tenir debout is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \tə.niʁ də.bu\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Sembler valable, être cohérent, avoir une apparence logique.".

Zero misspellings are on record for tenir debout 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, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tenir debout, spelled T-E-N-I-R- -D-E-B-O-U-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sembler valable, être cohérent, avoir une apparence logique.

Synonyms

avoir du senstenir la routetenir sur ses jambes

Antonyms

n’avoir ni queue ni tête

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 "tenir debout"?
"tenir debout" is spelled T-E-N-I-R- -D-E-B-O-U-T. The IPA pronunciation is \tə.niʁ də.bu\.
What does "tenir debout" mean?
As a verb, "tenir debout" means: Sembler valable, être cohérent, avoir une apparence logique.
How do you pronounce "tenir debout"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tenir debout" is \tə.niʁ də.bu\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tenir debout" come from?
"tenir debout" 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.

Using “tenir debout”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is T-E-N-I-R- -D-E-B-O-U-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \tə.niʁ də.bu\ (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