battre en retraite
\ba.tʁ‿ɑ̃ ʁə.tʁɛt\
The verdict
“battre en retraite” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fuir devant l’adversaire, abandonner le champ de bataille, abandonner la position.
Corpus desk
Index FR-battre-en-retraite · battre en retraite · French
battre en retraite · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 18 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | battre en retraite |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ba.tʁ‿ɑ̃ ʁə.tʁɛt\ |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “battre en retraite” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
battre en retraite is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \ba.tʁ‿ɑ̃ ʁə.tʁɛt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for battre en retraite in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is battre en retraite, spelled B-A-T-T-R-E- -E-N- -R-E-T-R-A-I-T-E.
Definition
- 1Fuir devant l’adversaire, abandonner le champ de bataille, abandonner la position.
- 2Faire demi-tour, faire machine arrière.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how battre en retraite appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Mais bientôt le bruit courut que les Russes avaient mis le feu dans leur ville, et qu’il allait falloir battre en retraite sur la Pologne, si l’on ne voulait pas périr de faim.
Le Prince fut le premier à saisir le danger de la situation et à battre en retraite.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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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.