en un tournemain
\ɑ̃.n‿œ̃ tuʁ.nə.mɛ̃\
The verdict
“en un tournemain” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. 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) - En aussi peu de temps qu’il en faut pour tourner la main.
Corpus desk
Index FR-en-un-tournemain · en un tournemain · French
en un tournemain · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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 | en un tournemain |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \ɑ̃.n‿œ̃ tuʁ.nə.mɛ̃\ |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « en un tournemain » en français
Rare enough to double-check
en un tournemain is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \ɑ̃.n‿œ̃ tuʁ.nə.mɛ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "En aussi peu de temps qu’il en faut pour tourner la main.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for en un tournemain, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is en un tournemain, spelled E-N- -U-N- -T-O-U-R-N-E-M-A-I-N.
Definition
- 1En aussi peu de temps qu’il en faut pour tourner la main.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en un tournemain appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
En un tournemain, la ville fut blindée, barricadée, casematée. Chaque maison devint une forteresse.
Il avala un verre d’eau, et, se rendant compte que l’ennemi, si mince qu’il fût, n’était pas de ceux dont on se débarrasse en un tournemain, il reprit : — Nous nous égarons, monsieur.
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.