jeter l’éponge
\ʒə.te l‿e.pɔ̃ʒ\
The verdict
“jeter l’éponge” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Jeter la serviette sur le ring pour faire cesser le combat.
Corpus desk
Index FR-jeter-l-eponge · jeter l’éponge · French
jeter l’éponge · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "J" 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 | jeter l’éponge |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ʒə.te l‿e.pɔ̃ʒ\ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « jeter l’éponge » en français
Rare enough to double-check
jeter l’éponge is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \ʒə.te l‿e.pɔ̃ʒ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for jeter l’éponge in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is jeter l’éponge, spelled J-E-T-E-R- -L-’-É-P-O-N-G-E.
Definition
- 1Jeter la serviette sur le ring pour faire cesser le combat.
- 2Renoncer à agir, perdre espoir de réussir.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how jeter l’éponge appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Dès le milieu de la première reprise, même sa mère ne l’aurait pas reconnu. Louis se demanda si le moment n’était pas venu de jeter l'éponge.
Une courte victoire qui s’est transformée en défaite, la fronde des partis d’opposition ruinant toutes ses tentatives d’alliance. Des larmes de dépit dans les yeux, Meciar a jeté l’éponge, accusant ses compatriotes d’ingratitude.
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.