Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

malgré lui

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.20 in modern English

Syllables: mal-gre lui
IPA

11

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adv

Contrary to their desires or ambitions.

Example Sentences

"[…] and he pities "that class of young ladies who malgré lui are bound to fall in love with these wooden specimens of youthful manhood.""

Etymology

Borrowed from French malgré (“against”) and French lui (“him”).

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: malgré, lui

Questions

What does malgré lui mean?: Contrary to their desires or ambitions.
Where does malgré lui come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce malgré lui

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “malgré lui”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “malgré lui”.
Repeat and practice — Say “malgré lui” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.