vœu pieux
\vø pjø\
The verdict
“vœu pieux” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Souhait que le locuteur pense irréalisable.
Corpus desk
Index FR-v-u-pieux · vœu pieux · French
vœu pieux · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "V" 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 | vœu pieux |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \vø pjø\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « vœu pieux » en français
Rare enough to double-check
vœu pieux is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \vø pjø\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Souhait que le locuteur pense irréalisable.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for vœu pieux, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, 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 vœu pieux, spelled V-Œ-U- -P-I-E-U-X.
Definition
- 1Souhait que le locuteur pense irréalisable.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how vœu pieux appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Tout le monde sera gentil, ce n′est hélas qu′un vœu pieux.
Avec l’ampleur actuelle des inégalités, la marche en avant vers la sobriété énergétique restera un vœu pieux.
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.