vouvoiement

Name: vouvoiement, French Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

\vu.vwa.mɑ̃\

/\vu.vwa.mɑ̃\/ noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“vouvoiement” is uncommon French (frequency #76,225 among 148,117 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,225
frequency rank, French: 148,117
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Manière de s’adresser à quelqu’un en marquant du respect, en utilisant le pronom vous au lieu de tu pour le tutoiement.

Key facts for vouvoiement
Property	Value
Headword	vouvoiement
Language	French
Part of speech	Noun
IPA	\vu.vwa.mɑ̃\
Letters	11
Frequency rank	#76,225
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “vouvoiement” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). vouvoiement lands here:

#76,225

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

vouvoiement is uncommon French at frequency #76,225 among 148,117 “V” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \vu.vwa.mɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Manière de s’adresser à quelqu’un en marquant du respect, en utilisant le pronom vous au lieu de tu pour le tutoiement.".

vouvoiement doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is vouvoiement, spelled V-O-U-V-O-I-E-M-E-N-T.

Definition

1
Manière de s’adresser à quelqu’un en marquant du respect, en utilisant le pronom vous au lieu de tu pour le tutoiement.

Synonyms

vousoiement voussoiement

Antonyms

tutoiement

This word in other languages

Siezen(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vouvoiement"?

"vouvoiement" is spelled V-O-U-V-O-I-E-M-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \vu.vwa.mɑ̃\.

What does "vouvoiement" mean?

As a noun, "vouvoiement" means: Manière de s’adresser à quelqu’un en marquant du respect, en utilisant le pronom vous au lieu de tu pour le tutoiement.

How do you pronounce "vouvoiement"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vouvoiement" is \vu.vwa.mɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "vouvoiement" come from?

"vouvoiement" 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 “vouvoiement”

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

The one correct French spelling is V-O-U-V-O-I-E-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as \vu.vwa.mɑ̃\ (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

Other uncommon French words near this rank

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.