les jambes en l’air

\le ʒɑ̃.b‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\

/\le ʒɑ̃.b‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\/ adv

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
19
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - À l’envers.

Corpus desk

Index FR-les-jambes-en-l-air · les jambes en l’air · French

les jambes en l’air · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 19 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "L" 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 les jambes en l’air
PropertyValue
Headwordles jambes en l’air
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdverb
IPA\le ʒɑ̃.b‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\
Letters19
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « les jambes en l’air » en français

les jambes en l’airreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

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

Rare enough to double-check

les jambes en l’air is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed \le ʒɑ̃.b‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "À l’envers.".

les jambes en l’air has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No documented word history exists 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 les jambes en l’air, spelled L-E-S- -J-A-M-B-E-S- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    À l’envers.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how les jambes en l’air appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. « Tout ce que tu pourrais dire ou rien du tout, ce serait la même chose. Il faut que Yéri-Hans vienne, il faut que je le voie les jambes en l’air, comme il m’a vu. »

Synonyms

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "les jambes en l’air"?
"les jambes en l’air" is spelled L-E-S- -J-A-M-B-E-S- -E-N- -L-’-A-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \le ʒɑ̃.b‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\.
What does "les jambes en l’air" mean?
As an adverb, "les jambes en l’air" means: À l’envers.
How do you pronounce "les jambes en l’air"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "les jambes en l’air" is \le ʒɑ̃.b‿ɑ̃ l‿ɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "les jambes en l’air" come from?
"les jambes en l’air" 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