dureté

hardness

noun dür-TEH Rare

Also means

harshness

Usage Note

Dureté covers both a physical property (la dureté d'un minéral — mineral hardness on the Mohs scale) and a moral quality (la dureté de coeur — hard-heartedness). The spelling retains the accent on the e throughout. The adjective dur and adverb durement belong to the same family and are much more frequent in everyday speech.

Examples

"La dureté du diamant le rend irremplaçable en industrie."

Natural Translation

The hardness of diamond makes it irreplaceable in industry.

Related Words

Explore French by topic

FrenchNow

French Numbers 1 to 100: Count With Confidence

French numbers 1 to 100 in one complete chart, with pronunciation, the et-un rule, hyphens, and the four-twenties system explained so you can count anywhere.

June 4, 2026 6 min read

FrenchNow

French Noun Gender: Rules to Guess Right 80%

Guess French noun gender right 80% of the time using word endings: -age, -ment, -eau are masculine; -tion, -té, -ette are feminine. A high-yield system.

June 3, 2026 5 min read

FrenchNow

How to Pronounce the French R (Step by Step)

The French R is a back-of-the-throat sound, not a rolled R. Learn the exact tongue position and a step-by-step drill to build it from sounds you already make.

June 4, 2026 6 min read

FrenchNow

French Object Pronouns: le, la, lui, leur Order

Le lui or lui le? Use the à-name test to pick le/la vs lui/leur, then one slot chart to order two French object pronouns — plus the command exception.

June 4, 2026 6 min read