foutre en l’air

\fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\

/\fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“foutre en l’air” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Détruire ; anéantir ; éradiquer ; jeter.

Key facts for foutre en l’air
PropertyValue
Headwordfoutre en l’air
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “foutre en l’air” sits in French frequency

foutre en l’air falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

foutre en l’air is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.

foutre en l’air has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is foutre en l’air, spelled F-O-U-T-R-E- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Détruire ; anéantir ; éradiquer ; jeter.
  2. 2
    Gâcher, rater, manquer ce que l’on fait.
  3. 3
    Se ratatiner, avoir un accident.
  4. 4
    Se suicider.
  5. 5
    Tout envoyer balader.

Synonyms

mettre en l’air

This word in other languages

fuck up(English)

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 "foutre en l’air"?
"foutre en l’air" is spelled F-O-U-T-R-E- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\.
What does "foutre en l’air" mean?
As a verb, "foutre en l’air" means: Détruire ; anéantir ; éradiquer ; jeter.
How do you pronounce "foutre en l’air"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "foutre en l’air" is \fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "foutre en l’air" come from?
"foutre en l’air" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “foutre en l’air”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is F-O-U-T-R-E- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \fu.tʁ‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list