perdre la tête

\pɛʁdʁ la tɛt\

/\pɛʁdʁ la tɛt\/ verb

The verdict

“perdre la tête” 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) - Devenir fou ; perdre ses facultés mentales.

Corpus desk

Index FR-perdre-la-tete · perdre la tête · French

perdre la tête · 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 "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 tête
PropertyValue
Headwordperdre la tête
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɛʁdʁ la tɛt\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

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

perdre la têtesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

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

Rare enough to double-check

perdre la tête is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pɛʁdʁ la tɛt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Devenir fou ; perdre ses facultés mentales.".

perdre la tête doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is perdre la tête, spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-A- -T-Ê-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Devenir fou ; perdre ses facultés mentales.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. J’ai tant d’embarras, tant de chagrins, que j’en perds la tête.
  2. Ma tête se perd, je m’égare.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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 "perdre la tête"?
"perdre la tête" is spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-A- -T-Ê-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛʁdʁ la tɛt\.
What does "perdre la tête" mean?
As a verb, "perdre la tête" means: Devenir fou ; perdre ses facultés mentales.
How do you pronounce "perdre la tête"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "perdre la tête" is \pɛʁdʁ la tɛt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "perdre la tête" come from?
"perdre la tête" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list