backlash

\bak.laʃ\

/\bak.laʃ\/ noun

The verdict

“backlash” is uncommon French (frequency #72,939 among 4,251 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,939
frequency rank, French
4,251
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Réaction, objection, ressac conservateur voire réactionnaire à l’encontre des avancées et des victoires des mouvements sociaux, en particulier des droits des femmes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-backlash · backlash · French

backlash · rank #72,939 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,939
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,251
  • PHOTO-FINISH babylonienne

Nearest frequency peer: babylonienne (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « backlash »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « backlash » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for backlash
PropertyValue
Headwordbacklash
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\bak.laʃ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#72,939
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « backlash » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).backlashtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Voisins rares de la même bande: « babylonienne » (#72,938), « bagatelles » (#72,940), « Babylonie » (#72,937). Parmi 4,251 lemmes en « B », « backlash » est au #72,939. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

backlash is uncommon French at frequency #72,939 among 4,251 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \bak.laʃ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Réaction, objection, ressac conservateur voire réactionnaire à l’encontre des avancées et des victoires des mouvements sociaux, en particulier des droits des femmes.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for backlash, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is backlash, spelled B-A-C-K-L-A-S-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Réaction, objection, ressac conservateur voire réactionnaire à l’encontre des avancées et des victoires des mouvements sociaux, en particulier des droits des femmes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how backlash appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nous assisterions à un véritable “backlash”, pour reprendre le titre du célèbre best-seller féministe de Susan Faludi, si la parole des femmes violées devenait plus suspecte encore qu’avant l’“affaire”.
  2. Pas de doute, la croisade des musulmans de Bradford contre l’œuvre impie, la sentence de mort lancée par l’imam Khomeiny ont provoqué un dangereux backlash raciste de la part des petits Blancs du Yorkshire.

Synonyms

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); 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 "backlash"?
"backlash" is spelled B-A-C-K-L-A-S-H. The IPA pronunciation is \bak.laʃ\.
What does "backlash" mean?
As a noun, "backlash" means: Réaction, objection, ressac conservateur voire réactionnaire à l’encontre des avancées et des victoires des mouvements sociaux, en particulier des droits des femmes.
How do you pronounce "backlash"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "backlash" is \bak.laʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "backlash" come from?
"backlash" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "backlash", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list