couper les ponts
\ku.pe lɛ pɔ̃\
The verdict
“couper les ponts” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Se mettre dans l’impossibilité de revenir en arrière.
Corpus desk
Index FR-couper-les-ponts · couper les ponts · French
couper les ponts · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" 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 | couper les ponts |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ku.pe lɛ pɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « couper les ponts » en français
Rare enough to double-check
couper les ponts is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \ku.pe lɛ pɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for couper les ponts, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is couper les ponts, spelled C-O-U-P-E-R- -L-E-S- -P-O-N-T-S.
Definition
- 1Se mettre dans l’impossibilité de revenir en arrière.
- 2Cesser, rompre les relations (avec quelqu’un).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how couper les ponts appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dans l’esprit des bonshommes (il prononçait bonhommes) c’est une manière de couper les ponts derrière eux, ils en ont l’habitude.
En prenant cette altitude, j’ai coupé les ponts derrière moi.
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.