uncanny valley

\ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\

/\ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\/ noun

The verdict

“uncanny valley” 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
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Vallée dérangeante, sentiment de malaise face à un robot ou une représentation humanoïde (poupée, mannequin, etc.) ressemblant presque mais pas tout à fait à un être humain.

Key facts for uncanny valley
PropertyValue
Headworduncanny valley
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “uncanny valley” sits in French frequency

uncanny valley 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for uncanny valley is 14 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Vallée dérangeante, sentiment de malaise face à un robot ou une représentation humanoïde (poupée, mannequin, etc.) ressemblant presque mais pas tout à fait à un être humain.".

No misspelling variants are generated for uncanny valley in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is uncanny valley, spelled U-N-C-A-N-N-Y- -V-A-L-L-E-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Vallée dérangeante, sentiment de malaise face à un robot ou une représentation humanoïde (poupée, mannequin, etc.) ressemblant presque mais pas tout à fait à un être humain.

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “uncanny valley, French word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/fr/mot/uncanny-valley

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "uncanny valley"?
"uncanny valley" is spelled U-N-C-A-N-N-Y- -V-A-L-L-E-Y. The IPA pronunciation is \ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\.
What does "uncanny valley" mean?
As a noun, "uncanny valley" means: Vallée dérangeante, sentiment de malaise face à un robot ou une représentation humanoïde (poupée, mannequin, etc.) ressemblant presque mais pas tout à fait à un être humain.
How do you pronounce "uncanny valley"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "uncanny valley" is \ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "uncanny valley" come from?
"uncanny valley" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “uncanny valley”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is U-N-C-A-N-N-Y- -V-A-L-L-E-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʌn.ˈkæ.ni ˈvæ.liː\ (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

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter U in our French index:

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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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list