de reculons

\də ʁə.ky.lɔ̃\

/\də ʁə.ky.lɔ̃\/ adv

The verdict

“de reculons” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonyme de à reculons.

Corpus desk

Index FR-de-reculons · de reculons · French

de reculons · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "D" 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.

Key facts for de reculons
PropertyValue
Headwordde reculons
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\də ʁə.ky.lɔ̃\
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « de reculons » en français

de reculonsn'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

de reculons is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \də ʁə.ky.lɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonyme de à reculons.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for de reculons, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is de reculons, spelled D-E- -R-E-C-U-L-O-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonyme de à reculons.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Parfois, il s’arrêtait pour scruter l’horizon et alors, attentifs à ses moindres gestes, les chiots s’arrêtaient à ses pieds, les plus forts écartant sans retenue les plus faibles. Puis, quand il repartait, la petite bande se remettait à ses trousses, en se chamaillant de plus belle, les plus hardis qui couraient de reculons devant lui.
  2. Le moteur étant froid, ça prenait plusieurs tours de « crainque » et c’était dangereux de se briser le pouce quand l’auto décidait de partir de reculons.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "de reculons"?
"de reculons" is spelled D-E- -R-E-C-U-L-O-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is \də ʁə.ky.lɔ̃\.
What does "de reculons" mean?
As an adverb, "de reculons" means: Synonyme de à reculons.
How do you pronounce "de reculons"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "de reculons" is \də ʁə.ky.lɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "de reculons" come from?
"de reculons" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list