perdre la raison

\pɛʁ.dʁə la ʁɛ.zɔ̃\

/\pɛʁ.dʁə la ʁɛ.zɔ̃\/ verb

The verdict

“perdre la raison” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. 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) - Tomber en démence ; devenir fou en un court intervalle de temps et pour une raison précise.

Corpus desk

Index FR-perdre-la-raison · perdre la raison · French

perdre la raison · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 16 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" 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 perdre la raison
PropertyValue
Headwordperdre la raison
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɛʁ.dʁə la ʁɛ.zɔ̃\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « perdre la raison » en français

perdre la raisonn'entre pas dans le top 100.000 du français: zone de termes techniques, archaïques ou rares.

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

Rare enough to double-check

perdre la raison is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pɛʁ.dʁə la ʁɛ.zɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

perdre la raison doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is perdre la raison, spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-A- -R-A-I-S-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Tomber en démence ; devenir fou en un court intervalle de temps et pour une raison précise.
  2. 2
    Faire une chose contraire à la raison ou au bon sens.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how perdre la raison appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. — Vous m’aimez, vous ? s’écria-t-il. Oh ! si cela était, ce serait à en perdre la raison !
  2. Celui qui réagissait le plus mal était de loin Jasper Fant ; il était si choqué que pendant quelque temps Call crut qu’il allait perdre la raison.

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 "perdre la raison"?
"perdre la raison" is spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-A- -R-A-I-S-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛʁ.dʁə la ʁɛ.zɔ̃\.
What does "perdre la raison" mean?
As a verb, "perdre la raison" means: Tomber en démence ; devenir fou en un court intervalle de temps et pour une raison précise.
How do you pronounce "perdre la raison"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "perdre la raison" is \pɛʁ.dʁə la ʁɛ.zɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "perdre la raison" come from?
"perdre la raison" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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