perdre la vie

\pɛʁdʁ la vi\

/\pɛʁdʁ la vi\/ verb

The verdict

“perdre la vie” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mourir de manière accidentelle.

Corpus desk

Index FR-perdre-la-vie · perdre la vie · French

perdre la vie · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 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 vie
PropertyValue
Headwordperdre la vie
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɛʁdʁ la vi\
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

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

perdre la viesiège 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 vie is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pɛʁdʁ la vi\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Mourir de manière accidentelle.".

No misspelling variants are generated for perdre la vie in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is perdre la vie, spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-A- -V-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mourir de manière accidentelle.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Il m’est revenu en mémoire une conversation avec Geronimo, quelques jours après qu’Ahiga eut perdu la vie. Pour me réconforter, noyé que j’étais dans mon chagrin, il m’avait dit à peu près ceci : « Au combat, la mort est parfois inévitable. Mais elle est toujours inutile. Pour un Apache, il n’est pas de bon moment pour mourir. La vie est le bien le plus p…

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 "perdre la vie"?
"perdre la vie" is spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-A- -V-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛʁdʁ la vi\.
What does "perdre la vie" mean?
As a verb, "perdre la vie" means: Mourir de manière accidentelle.
How do you pronounce "perdre la vie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "perdre la vie" is \pɛʁdʁ la vi\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "perdre la vie" come from?
"perdre la vie" 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