ventre à terre
\vɑ̃.tʁ‿a tɛʁ\
The verdict
“ventre à terre” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Allongé à terre, avec le ventre contre le sol.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ventre à terre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \vɑ̃.tʁ‿a tɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ventre à terre” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
ventre à terre is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \vɑ̃.tʁ‿a tɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
ventre à terre has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is ventre à terre, spelled V-E-N-T-R-E- -À- -T-E-R-R-E.
Definition
- 1Allongé à terre, avec le ventre contre le sol.
- 2Très vite, au grand galop, en parlant de courir, de filer.
Synonyms
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
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Using “ventre à terre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is V-E-N-T-R-E- -À- -T-E-R-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \vɑ̃.tʁ‿a tɛʁ\ (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.