perdre les pédales

\pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\

/\pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
18
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Perdre l’équilibre en s’emmêlant les pieds.

Key facts for perdre les pédales
PropertyValue
Headwordperdre les pédales
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\
Letters18
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “perdre les pédales” sits in French frequency

perdre les pédales falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Rare enough to double-check

perdre les pédales is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for perdre les pédales 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, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is perdre les pédales, spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-E-S- -P-É-D-A-L-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Perdre l’équilibre en s’emmêlant les pieds.
  2. 2
    Perdre le fil de son raisonnement ; perdre son assurance, se troubler.
  3. 3
    Devenir fou.

This word in other languages

lose one's marbles(English)

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 les pédales"?
"perdre les pédales" is spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-E-S- -P-É-D-A-L-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\.
What does "perdre les pédales" mean?
As a verb, "perdre les pédales" means: Perdre l’équilibre en s’emmêlant les pieds.
How do you pronounce "perdre les pédales"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "perdre les pédales" is \pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "perdre les pédales" come from?
"perdre les pédales" 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.

Using “perdre les pédales”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is P-E-R-D-R-E- -L-E-S- -P-É-D-A-L-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pɛʁdʁ le pe.dal\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list