pantouflage
French, noun/pɑ̃.tu.flaʒ/
pantouflage is spelled P-A-N-T-O-U-F-L-A-G-E (11 letters) and appears about once in every 10 million words in written French, the 103,520th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pantouflage is a French masculine noun meaning “the phenomenon of civil servants and politicians moving over to prominent private-sector jobs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Fait, pour un haut fonctionnaire, d’aller travailler dans une entreprise privée”.
What does pantouflage mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinethe phenomenon of civil servants and politicians moving over to prominent private-sector jobs
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Fait, pour un haut fonctionnaire, d’aller travailler dans une entreprise privée.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of pantouflage
- pantouflages plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce pantouflage?
- /pɑ̃.tu.flaʒ/
- \pɑ̃.tu.flaʒ\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is pantouflage in French?
pantouflage appears about once in every 10 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).